[tubescream8]

I just bought on ebay a vintage Stella acoustic from the mid-to-late 1960's. Its a Harmony Stella model, but still vibey none the less. I just won the auction, so Ive not seen the guitar in person, but Im excited. I paid $71, plus $17 shipping. Anyone had any experience with the Stella guitars? Ive played a few, but wanted one for my own. Im very excited.

[tubescream8]

Ive got some pics from the ebay auction

[mikeyo24]

got one not the best not the worst mine aint thatpreety sunburst though

[tubescream8]

got one not the best not the worst mine aint thatpreety sunburst though

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ive read that they were guitars that were sold through catalogs and retail stores, and often were not setup correctly. People bought them and because they werent set up thought they were unplayable, and so people find them now in closets and stuff. Ive heard that if its set-up correctly it can be a really great guitar. Obvisously for what I paid Im not expecting the best guitar Ive ever played, but I figured it wasnt a bad vintage instrument for the price.

[adds]

That spray job was surely done by a blind man

[dadfad]

Yes, Stella was a budget brand for many years (Robert Johnson used one to record many of his tunes after being mugged the night before his session on a drunken spree, having his Gibson L-1 stolen. AC Spiers, his A & R manager, gave Robert $5 to get another guitar, which was a Stella.)

Generally not the greatest guitar, but an old Stella is often favored by slide-players. It's relatively lower-standards of construction usually give them a pretty high action and not a great deal of tonal nuance, but these are often desireable characteristics for playing slide. The strings a little higher than optimum for regular fingerstyle acoustic but less chance of fret-rattle, and fewer unwanted overtones. Any guitar that you can get some good use out of is well worth $71.

[tubescream8]

It came in the mail today. I was real excited to get it.

First off, its badly in need of a clean up job a "guitar physical" so to speak. The main problem is that the bridge is not secured to the body. This creates some problems tuning, and just overall issues. The tuning heads are hard to turn, in need of some oiling.

But, the future looks bright. It sounds real good, has a very vintage vibe to it. Once I get some new strings on it, it should be great for slide playing. Its got real high action, but Im used to high-action, so that does not bother me for standard playing.

Overall, Im happy with it. And as dadfad said, any fuitar you can some good use out of for 70 bucks is good. So Im happy.

[tubescream8]

Just tuned to open-G and gave it a go with slide. Sounds great with slide. Very delta bluesy.

[dadfad]

Good for you! I thought it would make a good slide guitar. It won't be hard to intonate that bridge and mount it (if you even need to permanantly mount it at all) (Mine had a pencil being used for the bridge when I got it!). I hope you have a lot of fun with it.

[tubescream8]

Thanks, Im excited to see what it can do. Once I get it fixed up a little bit it should end up being a great guitar. What would I have to do to mount the bridge?

Thats funny that someone would use a pencil for bridge. Did it work?

[dadfad]

Thanks, Im excited to see what it can do.    Once I get it fixed up a little bit it should end up being a great guitar.  What would I have to do to mount the bridge?

Thats funny that someone would use a pencil for bridge.  Did it work?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, it worked (a bit "buzzy" though!). The bridge should be the exact same distance from the 12-fret that the 12-fret is from the nut mathematically. However there are compensation issues dealing with fingering and string guage which make that not quite right. Use that as an approximation. Place the bridge there to start. Now check the intonation on the 12-fret fingering each string. The treble-side of the saddle often is best slightly closer to the neck than the bass-side. If the action is waaaaaay high at the 12-fret, fingering it might pull if off a little in which case it's best just to check some nice chords nearer the nut (if that's where the majority of your fingering is done) just to make sure they all sound good in that area. Every time you move the bridge a little, be sure to re-tune your strings again. Once you get it in place and it checks out and sounds good, etc, use a couple of pieces of masking tape laid down exactly along the bottom and one side of the bridge on the guitar's top to show you exactly where you want to re-position it.

Now on most guitars you want to use a good strong glue like melted horse-hide glue or something to hold the bridge down. However in this case since your strings are held down by the "trapeze" tail-piece there is very little pressure to cause the bridge to move, the string pressure actually helping to hold it in place you don't need to use that (on most arch-tops where a trapeze is almost always used, the bridge-saddle assembly is always left "floating" and never glued down at all.) A very simple glue such as Elmers or something is enough, all it needs to do is keep it from moving a bit, and the string pressure will take care of that itself pretty well. A little simple glue will do the rest (and make removal in the future, should it ever become necessary, much easier).

And that's about it!

[tubescream8]

Thanks so much.

I dont think the strings have been changes since it was bought in the 60's, so its in bad need of a new set. Do you thin it would be best to figure out where I want the bridge with this set and then glue it on when I change the strings? Or something different?

[tubescream8]

I'm happy to report that after a clean-up, a non-proffestional set-up, and a newly glued bridge, and new strings the guitar has been transformed into a great little guitar. It sounds great, Im very happy. It almost sounds resonatorish.