1946 Harmony Gene Autry Rubber-Saddle Electrified Guitar

A local customer was looking to get a "rubber bridge" guitar of the style popularized by Old Style Guitar Shop and used by, ya know, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco -- so I whipped this one up for him to check out. He wound-up with almost the same guitar (but different) that I also supplied, so this one's available.

Most rubber bridge mods use a tailpiece setup but I figured I'd try a pin-bridge setup on this guy as that was the original fit for this model and it lets the Gene Autry artwork shine-through. It involved a bit of finagling at the (new) bridge, but I think the end result is something that has a "damped traditional" sound and is different and wonderful in its own way. The tailpiece setups with rubber bridges are thwackier (as you'd expect) while this is a little more mellow and chunky and warm.

Anyway, the guitar itself has a 1946 date-stamp inside and was made by Harmony. It's solid birch throughout with a poplar neck and ebonized-maple fretboard. The bridge would have been the same but it was long gone -- replaced with an over-long tailpiece and floating bridge when it arrived here for consignment.

I fixed it all up -- it got a neck reset, seam repairs, brace reglues, fret level/dress, new StewMac repro-style tuners (~$55), new bone nut, side dots install, a new rosewood-like (it's in the family but I can't remember the species) bridge, and a pickup and wiring harness install. The pickup is a Duncan Hot Rails (~$80) and I've made a neat tortoise mount for it to sit in the soundhole. The harness has 500k pots and a .022uf tone cap.

It has specs like most of the "standard size" Harmony parlors of the day -- 13" lower bout, 24 1/8" scale length, 1 3/4" nut width, and a big old hefty C-shaped neck profile with a hint of V in its back. The board is flat. Yes, this feel is not for everyone, but if you're familiar with old Stellas from the '60s it's almost the same.

It's a lovely little guitar and offers a great tone acoustically and plugged-in. While one can make a rubber bridge mod on the cheap as well, all the work is done on this guy and it has quality fittings throughout that make for a better experience.

Above is an in-process pic with the bridge installed and the wiring harness going in. I ground the strings to the harness by fitting this copper tape under the bridge plate with a ground lead coming off of it. The ball-ends snug-up against the tape and thus ground the strings to the harness.

Here's a detail shot of the bridge. Note how I've used screws to keep the (cut-from-truck-tire) saddle aligned at a compensated angle despite its squiggly nature.