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RESTORED & READY TO GO! - Restoration Just Completed! New set of completed photos displayed. Offered at the same price of £599 as the last Stella H929TG sold just a couple of months ago, and almost identical, except for slightly different headstock logo and this one has the benefit of real dot inlay position markers, which I have ben able to preserve....rather than painted on position markers, which are present on the majority of these Stella tenors, together also with the replacement Rosewood & Bone saddle bridge, and front strap button on this one.
SOLD: - to returning customer from Devon...his second Stella tenor purchase!
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If you follow my listings you will know that from time to time (i.e. as often as I can get hold of them) I do list Tenor Guitars regularly, most often Stellas, but also Harmony Sovereigns & Archtones, none of which seem to hang about long at all, and in most cases "pre-sell", before I have completed the work on them - see excellent feedback from buyers!
Hence why this Restored example, Original except for a replaced bridge, represents a rare opportunity as one of my restored Stella tenors that has not been "pre-ordered", as they normally are! Priced at £599, the same as the last three Stella tenors sold last year and this year.
Stock Number: VTG1598.
This Stella Tenor is one of the scarcer ones with actual dot inlay fingerboard position markers, rather than the more frequent painted ones, so I am happy that, following the neck reset, I did not have to re-level the fingerboard and re-fret, in order to retain the original fingerboard finish, original dot inlay position markers, and original frets! However, I have had to replace the original fretwire saddle & bolted bridge, with new purpose-made Indian Rosewood bridge, using the original bridge pins, but with new purpose-made Bone Saddle.
The Harmony made Stella H929TG is the 4-string/Tenor version of the iconic H929 6-string, of which I sell many, but the Tenor is the scarcer animal! Same size body, but with 14 frets to the body join, rather than 12 on the 6-string.
It has great looks, lots of vibe and historic all-American character - a superb sounding parlor blues guitar, set up for finger-style or for bottleneck playing - an iconic Chicago made, tenor Blues Guitar - all solid Birch, ladder braced construction.
The usual Harmony ink model (H929) identification stamp is visible, but not the usual date stamp....probably concealed by factory overspray inside the back. From the style details and fittings, which Harmony varied in minor details only over the years, I'm confident that the guitar would date from the mid-1960s, shortly after the introduction of the fitting of the white scratchplate, not fitted prior to 1964, in the earlier part of the production run from 1951 to 1970! It still carries sticker on the back of the headstock for "BOYD Guitar School Dallas".
I have sold a good number of 23" scale Tenor Guitars over the last few years, including Tenor versions of the Harmony Sovereign, Archtone and Stella models, all eminently playable guitars, which have proved outstandingly popular, and include ones I have shipped to buyers in Denmark, Rome and Portugal, as well as to U.K. buyers! The Tenor Guitar has a long and strong heritage in American Music, following early development as an alternative for Banjo players - not only in Blues, but also Bluegrass and Country Music - but excellent for a variety of playing styles, as anyone else who has heard Irish/Celtic tunes played on a Stella Tenor, will appreciate.
If you are an acoustic blues player and wonder why that top line guitar you bought doesn't sound authentic when you play blues like those of Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, or Blind Lemon Jefferson, I can tell you why it doesn't and never will! All of those guys and many others from the 30s through to the 60s played Birch bodied guitars, some of them with Spruce tops, some all Birch, but it is the Birch which gives that unmistakable sound. No guitar made today, American or otherwise can give you that sound, for Delta and Country Blues! If you want a fully functioning, great sounding piece of American musical history, this is it - a really exceptional addition to any collection of Blues/Vintage Guitars.
Original throughout, except for the replacement bridge and fitted front strap button on neck heal, and I have swapped the individual tuning machines it came with for another set of the two-on-a-plate tuners original to the majority of Harmony's Stella tenors, and in much better condition.
The finish is generally very good for 50+ year old Stella...minor marks & blemishes are minimal for age, including some marking and very slight discolouration to the painted "bindings". Not unusually the finish on these does show a check/wear line on the top/side seam....we have probed and investigated this most carefully and found no actual seam separation. Very slight wear to fingerboard finish. Fingerboard has been cleaned, frets polished and frets ends dressed.
Brief restoration work schedule to include:
Unusually it proved possible to reset the neck joint, without first removing the fingerboard, with the particular benefit that following the neck reset, I did not have to re-level the fingerboard and re-fret, and was therefore able to retain the original fingerboard finish, original dot inlay position markers, and original frets!
New Indian Rosewood bridge has been purpose-made, and new purpose-made Bone Saddle installed. Original black bridge pins and nut retained.
The guitar carries the original white Stella scratchplate, fitted on the tenors from about 1964 onwards, but which the factory usually failed to adapt to fit the tenor correctly. Using the same scratchplate as for the 6-string H929, the more forward position of the tenor bridge required a shorter plate, but only on one example have I seen that the factory fitted the plate correctly originally....they usually fitted it at a "drunken" angle.....hence, as with all the others I
Good, low-ish 12th. fret action on a shorter 23" scale tenor, at around 2.5mm./2.75mm.
Initially fitted with temporary set-up string set for "Chicago" DGBE tuning, but I have dedicated sets of Eagle-Puretone strings for Standard CGDA or Irish GDAE tunings, and can fit whichever of these is required.
No case included, but I can offer a choice of vintage covered pressed fibreboard case...not original to the guitar, but of the type supplied with these guitars when new. Not exactly what we would regard as a fitted case now, naturally with some wear & tear commensurate with age, and offering limited protection to the guitar, or I should be able to supply an industry standard modern hardshell case, Hiscox Liteflite or PRO-11, at modest additional cost.
