1940s Harmony H610 Gene Autry Melody Ranch Parlor Guitar (X-Braced)

This cool old Gene Autry is more of a "hot rod" under the hood than a stock little beastie. Ancel rebraced it to a very simple X-pattern but using carbon-fiber-reinforced braces. He then corrected all of the other woes with the guitar. Aside from the hefty vintage neck profile, it now plays more or less like a spiffy new guitar and it sounds tremendously-good. It's retained the sort-of woody, husky Harmony sound but with more of a chunky, punchy, warm, L-00 sort-of vibe.

It arrived here years ago from a consignor of mine and had already had a neck reset, refret, new bridge, and a total rebracing job done to it. Unfortunately, some iffy fish glue had been used and as a result I got to watch the thing (in real time) come apart at every seam, spring its neck back out of the pocket, lose its bridge, have its back/side seams separate, and all the fresh bracing peel-up. I stowed it in cold storage because it was such a depressing thing to have happened and eventually took it in trade. The rebracing job had been well-executed, too!

Suffice to say, it needed all the work re-done and this time around Ancel put his stamp on it with a simplified X-pattern on the top, simple "strapping" braces added to the back, a new ebony bridge in a Matin-ish format, neck reset with bolted reinforcement for the joint (hidden inside), and all the other usual stuff.

It's playing spot-on and ready to go, but certainly shows a lot of minor blemishes throughout. It's nicely crack-free, the stencil job on the top is in good order, and it's playing spot-on.

Repairs included: rebracing to X pattern, a neck reset (bolted), fret level/dress, new ebony bridge, new bone saddle, new pins, replacement tuners (vintage), new back braces (flat-style), setup.

• Weight: 3 lbs 3 oz
• Scale length: 24 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: big soft V/C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 13 1/4"
• Body depth: 3 3/4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid maple
• Bracing type: simple X
• Bridge: ebony
• Fretboard: ebonized maple or similar
• Neck wood: poplar
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w-12 lights
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium

Condition notes: top and back braces are all replaced. The fretboard has been refretted (in the past) and there's chipout here and there throughout the board -- but small. There's wear and tear to the finish throughout and especially along the back/side seams. The nut, saddle, bridge, and bridge pins are all new. Side dots have been added. The fretboard extension drops away from the rest of the fretboard a little bit over the body. The tuners are old (1950s) but not original.

It comes with: sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: JW