Talk about a round about long distance to get a Harmos!

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Well, my new (to me) Harmos is on its way. Try and find one of these bad boys for sale.. nearly impossible (Thanks for the heads up Rune! and to Geoff who gave me the shot). And before they went out of business, they were made about 10 miles down the road from where I live!

I had to go to Denmark for this one.. so, I figure this thing will have premier status on any airline..
US to Denmark to US is about 14,200 miles!

Goes in the mail tomorrow.. here are some teaser pictures.. hope it sounds like everyone here has described it!

The guy that plays it prefers his Weissenborn.. you can check him out here:

https://www.facebook.com/fredrikmusic

Mr. VunCannon.. I am going to be pinging you for tips and tricks!

Rune Alm · From: Sweden

Haha, great to hear the deal worked out!
Good luck with it!

So funny: When I see the sellers picture, I realize that I used to go to go to the same swing dance courses as the girl he plays with when he's not playing solo... This was when I lived in Copenhagen. Small world Smile

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

I still find it amazing that these sound so good. As Bobby Ingano said "Look's out of this world, but sounds down to Earth".
Congrats on the score, Hal.

Terry VunCannon · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Congrats...These are amazing sounding laps. I hope you are happy with yours. I notice yours has the keyless tuners, as mine has standard tuners. I will be interested to hear how those work...

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Raymond Jones · From: British Columbia, Canada

GREAT - GREAT lap steels. Tuners - interesting!? Mine is a seven string 2nd edition, two lollar pups with the volume on top, tone and blend on the end. The tuner fingers are "not" fixed to the end but are only pivoted on the the round cross bar. The first string change I took off all the strings at once and had all the tuner parts floating in the wind, not fun. I change one at a time as the others position the one you are changing. I felt the string needed help to be centered on the tuner finger so I drilled each finger and installed a titanium rod ( a short piece from a TIG welding rod). This works very well. To fasten to a stand I installed a nut into the bottom of each end plate, the guitar sits across an aluminum channel and fastens with wing bolts. Fast and secure. you WILL enjoy and laugh at those carrying their heavy steels. Enjoy!

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Ray, thats a great idea! If you get a chance to show your mounting.. I was just going to set it on a keyboard stand, but was worried about how to lock it in a little better...

Raymond Jones · From: British Columbia, Canada

Hope this show OK. Set a nut into each end plate at the bottom, flush. I silver soldered a bit of brass tube to the nut and epoxied it into a drilled hole. Added a cross bar to a "bongo" stand. Very solid due to the light weight of the Harmos and the wide 26" between legs at the floor. Also I can tilt the Harmos for best playing position and comfort, sitting or standing. Check out your local drum store, mine had a missing top holder piece which I would be throwing away for my use - They took the price I offered, bonus.

Terry VunCannon · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

I have been using a KB X-Stand and 4 Velcro strips to secure the lap to the stand by the bottom of the Carbon frame. There is no danger of the lap falling off...the strips are long enough to wrap around the stand and the frame itself. Very secure.

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Both great ideas. I was looking at the "ultimate v stand pro" mostly because the bottom flares out and I won't kick it being the klutz I am.

http://www.ultimatesupport.com/product/VS-88B

Now I have a couple of options to connect the guitar to the stand.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Damn those are weird. I hope you figure out some special kind of 21st century music to play on those, because if you play Cold Cold Heart you may hear the ghost of Hank a-twirlin' in your dreams.

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Terry VunCannon · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Here is a little something to listen to while you wait for the mail to bring your Harmos...here is mine on the X-Stand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RNfHP6VCRE

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Damn Terry.. I want to be like you when I grow up! Is that tuned to open E or E7? (or something else..) With the 8 string, I think I am going to stick with my C6 tuning.. but I have an old 7 string Ricky I might have to tune to that..

Terry VunCannon · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

I am using a simple open E tuning...EBEG#BE, low to high...I mainly use this, but also use D or G. Thanks for the kind words. Be sure to let us know when your Harmos gets there.

Andre Nizzari · From: Bronx, NY

I have one with standard tuners. Its a 2004 with a lollar chicago pickup. It was the first one of the single pickup models to have a titanium nut and bridge. Whoa!

Very unique in tone. Sounds great.
_________________
Blues in a doggy bag, is what I got to eat!

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

At the Dallas Show.....maybe 2003/4

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

Sage Harmos screen left.....I'm on the right....

This guitar & stand is light......and that's an understatement.....

Terry VunCannon · From: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Howard, that is too cool. I would love to have one of the Harmos Stands...I wonder if Sage has any leftover, just laying around.
Does anyone know how to find him or get in touch???

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

So,.....here's a Harmos story.......I believe that I was one of the first to order a Harmos (have to check my serial #).......Sage & James were building mine and Sage called to ask if I could wait a bit longer as they had an important order that they needed to fill post haste....it was for Jerry Douglas and quite frankly I felt truly honored to be bumped for Jerry......really........so I said sure......

When they were back to building mine, they were also building one for Calvin Cooke (unbeknownst to me) and they were finished at the same time.....inadvertently, they mixed up the orders and when I opened the carton I saw "Calvin Cooke".....at that time I was a manufacturer of lady's hats ( specializing in Church hats) and couldn't pass up the photo op of myself with Calvin's guitar in front of a wall of hats.......

I called Sage & he asked me to call Calvin......I had the most wonderful conversation with this gentleman and we laughed a lot over the mix up.....so we exchanged our guitars and the universe was then in order.......

Another story but no photos.....sometime later Sage & James just got finished building a Harmos for Robert Randolf.....Robert was playing in NYC and wanted it immediately......Sage called me and asked if he sent it overnight, would I be able to deliver it?......Sure, who wouldn't want to meet Robert Randolf...... Robert was playing at Irving Plaza (a concert hall) and I was to call his manager for access to the hall and deliver the guitar...I spoke to the manager & he told me to call him when I got to Irving Plaza and he would let me in.....I called several times when I arrived but all I got was voicemail and not a returned call...

So, I went to the the people working there before the show and tried to get in explaining my situation & mission, but to no avail.......I decided to check out the side of the building with guitar in case and see what was going on......as I was walking up, there was a band (an opening band but I forget who they were) walking ahead of me to a side door.....I fell in line behind them and walked in with them.....as I was walking in, one of them turned around and asked if I was so & so......I said yes and they said "cool", "meet you in the right wing & we'll warm up".......once inside I split from the group.....didn't know where I was but I started opening doors to rooms......the fourth door I opened, there was Robert sitting down & picking on a standard guitar.....I told him that I had his Harmos and was pleased to meet him......he took the Harmos and looked at it and then asked "do you have a dobro?".....I said "not with me".......he asked me where I lived and I told him Far Rockaway (I really lived in the city about 20 minutes away but I didn't want to schlepp back & forth and then have to worry about my dobro).....if you're reading this, sorry man.....but I did come through with your Harmos.....

The show was great.....Robert did not play the Harmos that evening......I was hoping that he would......

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Howard.. that is some great stuff! I love the Harmos with the "Ricky type" pickup.. those have to be as rare as hen's teeth..

I am thinking of getting hold of Jason Lollar and seeing what he can put together for a bridge pickup for the one I am getting (which only has the one pickup.. looks like the "Chicago")

Thanks for all the pictures.. really neat.

Hal Braun · From: Eustis, Florida, USA

Well, the Harmos arrived from Denmark.. and from the get go, it had a really HOT 4th string.. so I messed with height adjustment, different strings, pole piece adjustment, etc.. nothing really helped.

Contacted Jason Lollar, and we started poking around and found that one of the magnets on the bottom had come unglued and flipped over and reattached magnetically... a BIG SHOUT OUT to Jason who is going to reattach the magnets and upgrade/update the pickup to "as new" for the cost of shipping.. what a guy! and this is a pickup he made in 2004! You do not find service like that much anymore!

Otherwise, this is a really cool looking guitar with sustain and clarity that even Jason remembers being outstanding.

To Ray's point, if you change all the strings at once, you should grow an extra hand.. and even one at a time, it is kind of a bear trying to pull the string tight enough.. but, once tuned, the tuners seem to work great!

got it on the V stand Pro, and now just have to figure out how to attach it.. still looking at easy options before getting out the heavy artillery! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

PS. Funny story, I was out visiting Williams Guitar, (Bill made my D8 non pedal) and he told me he gave Sage a whole box of scrap curly maple and other end pieces left over from making his guitars, and that is what the end piece of my Harmos came from! Small world..

Bill McCloskey · Posted 7 Sep 2012 11:13 am

I had a Hamos years ago and sent it back. The tuners just wouldn't stay in tune. I'm sure mine was a fluke but I wish I could have used it. Looked cool as hell.

HowardR · From: N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville

Originally my tuners wouldn't hold the tuning either.......I sent it back and they modified the keyless tuners......I guess by inserting that bar....it has worked fine ever since......

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