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1970 Harmony H169 Buck Owens American

Year: 1970
Brand: Harmony
Model: H169 Buck Owens American
Class:
Owner: Jamie Vahala

It's an original 1970 Harmony Buck Owens that was damn near unplayable when Jamie brought it to me. After resetting the original braces that had come loose and remaking the one brace Jamie lost, I was ready to move on to the headstock. The headstock logo was mostly gone at this point, poor action, but it had solid bones. There are a few people who sell a decal mask set for restoring the original Harmony Buck Owens headstock. If you have see an original you know it was a true overlay, not a painted headstock. So I created a Hi Res graphic water decal and did some lacquer magic to apply it to a custom cut white adhesive headstock overlay. I lacquered the graphic with tinted lacquer to give it the same aged appearance as the guitar. It came out better than the masking technique in my opinion and closer to original. Now adjustable bridges on acoustic guitars are notably bad for sound transfer, so I upgraded it to a bone bridge and nut and installed an under the saddle transducer. I added an end pin jack, and it was ready for the honky tonks.

2014-01-01: Reset almost all body braces. Bridge work to lower action, installed under saddle pickup. Replaced original damaged/missing tuners (same as originals, but chrome button vs pearloid). Completely redid the original crumbling head stock overlay with a custom overlay I made just for this project.