non- adjutable truss rod

[vince sauter]

I was recently given an old harmony arch top. i know there is not a lot of value in this but i like the way it sounds and would like to get it back to playable condition. the neck has a bad bow in it and although it has a truss rod it is not adjusable. is there anyway to correct this?

[Ron Frazier]

remove the fretboard grove for truss rod then reglue fret board.
Ron

[vince sauter]

hey Ron
thanks for responding. ok so i remove the fretboard? then remove the groove for the truss rod? not sure i am following .can you give me anymore detail?
vince

[FRANK]

like Ron said remove replace with and adjustable rod?

[vince sauter]

got it thanks guys. this is better than i thought.
vince

[Michael Lewis]

Remove the fingerboard and install an adjustable truss rod. That would be a good opportunity to do a good fret job since the area would be disrupted anyway.

[thefishinmusician]

I have had excellent results with re-fretting after taking the bow out with fretboard grinding....God that sounds ugly...But if the bow isn't too bad, you can level, radius, and refret alot of these...The wood at this point (50 yrs.),..you can do this and the wood is done twisting and bending and has settled dowwn...The BEST way would be fingerboard removal, Truss rod or....Graphite....That would be the best way for another 50 years..But I have had great results....Over 15 years and they still rock...with the neck and fret work in the most brutal and unforgiving way...I have told customers the options...Fretboard removal. truss rod insertions, refine the neck itself and refret are often too costly for a customer too hang with...One day, everyone with see the value of these old Harmony war horses...Till then, if I can reset a neck, grind it flat, put new teeth in it and set them up perfectly ready to go on another 20 ..30...40...years for under 500 bucks, then make it so...These guitars, for whatever reason, had no truss rods...But alot of them are baseball bats with a lot of mass...They do respond well to this surgery...

[thefishinmusician]

Also,...I made my own neck jig...A copy of Dan E.s'..I mostly use it only for backbowing a neck for surgery...Like noodley Jazz bass necks with week truss rods.,..I do the work with the jig holding the neck how I want it, and when the work on the neck and frets is done, the neck will have a good backbow...If you are lucky...( I have been very lucky )..when you string it up...It will be close to flat with just a touch of truss...

[vince sauter]

wow this is great but it brings up a few more questions. 1. I have heard about Graphite truss rods and have seen people use them when building ukulele's .Where can you get them ? And what if anything special needs to be done to the neck to use them. 2. now that i will be installing an adjutable truss rod
in an archtop my only option for acess to adjustment is to modify the head stock. Will this weaken the scarf joint at the head stock?

[Jim Bancroft]

Carbon Graphite reinfocement rods are available from Stew Mac. I've purchased and used them a few times.

Jim

[Haydon Cardew]

Jim - have you used a graphite rod instead of an adjustable truss rod?

[Jim Bancroft]

Yes I put graphite in an old parlor guitar and a Vega professional tenor banjo. They helped both instruments a lot, but they didn't stay totally straight, but were 100% better than they were with bowed necks.

Jim

[vince sauter]

ok so while we are on the subject and every one seems to have so much info let me ask another question or two. the harmony archtop i have is an h1215 made in 62. pretty common from what i have been able to dig up and not worth a lot as a vintage. presently the guitar is in great shape except for the bow in the neck and a small reapirable crack in the face. the questions are.
1. if you were to repair the neck would you replace with a standard adjustable truss or the graphite?
2. should i just strop there or would you try to repair the finish and realy bring it up to its top potential?
the tone right now is realy sweet and i think if this were spruced up a bit would be a great show and play guitar.