Drummer gave it to me.

Harmony Strat knockoff. Needs work, but has potential. Typical SSS layout, 21 frets... looks like maple neck/fretboard. Weirdly enough, more resonant than my Ibanez. Probably because it weighs about 5 pounds less.


It has a funky ass non-adjustable bridge. Tips on how to lower the action? I was thinking of the old "business cards in between the neck and body" trick.

Also: squeals like a stuck pig. Tips? Aluminum foil in the cavity? New pickups will come whenever I get around with it.


It actually plays rather nice. Nice modern thin wide neck. No clue how it sounds... the strings are probably older than our resident angsty teenager.

Very cool. I like free stuff. Free gear stuff is more gooder

That those cheap guitars you have to have a few hours to sit and just fuck with the thing.

As for the neck, yeah you are probably going to end up sliding a shim in there or something to rais the action a bit, you might have to shave the shim into a wedge shape to help with the angling of everything, but for cheapos that is usually the best solution.

As for noise, even if it is squealing can you tell if all of the electronics work? Do the knobs have any effect, does the switch switch, do the pickups pickup and such. If so, you are going to want to check all the wiring and maybe shield the cavity, and if that doesn't work you might just have a case of the shitty pickups. I have a loaded guard with all the cheap strat electronics you would need if you needed a set of cheap pups that work.

Does it just squeal the second you plug in or is just really fucking noisey when you play?

If I shave the shim into an angle, which way should the angle point?

All the pickups work. All the knobs work. Volume pot and neck tone pot are pretty dirty but they work fine. The middle pup tone pot is perfect. It only squeals under distortion. I can move it around and the squealing changes frequency. I can also tap on the guard and make it squeal in some places.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8290798/harmony ... 20copy.mp3

Quick clip through VSTs at a moderate volume.

This guitar actually sounds alright, considering that these are the most dead strings I've ever played.


I temporarily dropped the action via lowering the saddles. Not very comfortable due to the screws sticking up, but at least it's playable now.

If the strings are nice distance from the fretboard throughout its length then you could probably just put a flat shim in there to raise the neck, but a common problem with these cheaper strats is that strings sit unusually high near the pickguard side of the fretboard. If so, you would angle the shim to compensate the angle of the neck. Sometimes there is a problem from the low to high end of the fretboard, which requires the same shenanigans.

If memory and logic serve, you would put the shim in with the fatter end of the wedge pointed to the butt of the guitar, and the skinnier side of the wedge pointed toward the headstock.


It usually does not take much of an angle though. It can get drastic with bolt-on SGs and LPs though, especially with cheaper bridges an construction.

IF you do the business card trick, sometimes using a flat card and then folding a second one in half and positioning it appropriately to add an angle is all it takes. Some of the more technical guys will say wood shims are the best for the wood-to-wood- contact for transfer of resonance from the neck to the body etc. etc. but any guitar where that would matter should have been built right in the first place IMO.

Thanks for all the help and advice, kind sir.

Sounds like unpotted pickups from your description of the squealing.

Anyhoo, HNGD! Free is the best price. And if it plays alright, sounds decent enough- and maybe you can exploit its quirks?- so much the better.

Put a kill switch on it ala Tom Morello and make annoying noises.