Harmony Guitars & Amps. Reborn.

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Those were truly terrible guitars. I know some people have said that they've had great Harmony guitars but I've never touched one that was. I wonder what the street price is, and how big the target audience is going to be.

Looks interesting though.
 

firestarter

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Well, I own a couple "for fun" cheap Harmony's including a Jupiter and a Bobkat; the Rowe-DeArmond foil pickups rock pretty hard through an old blackface or Magnatone and don't forget those same pickups were on the little M-65 Freshman! Spring training is coming up so you can always grab an old Harmony neck if you run out of wood. Not Guilds by any means, but tons of fun if you don't have big $$$$ to re-live your childhood Sears Christmas fantasies....

Don't know why they've reissued them though....

My Bobkat was rescued from a dank, mouse-ridden basement with at least 35 years of dirt and slime, zero fret wear, probably the original strings. Six hours to bring back the "hand-rubbed Cherry Luster" finish.... looks like my first car ('66 Corvair convertable) and costs less to keep running.
Wee-Haw! :D
 

coastie99

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Strange goings on !

Eastwood re-issued a look-alike H44, in single and 2 p/u configurations, under the Airline brand not long ago

Mine pictured, with custom pickguard............

IMG_0964.jpg


If they're not wildly expensive, I wouldn't mind getting a single p/u Harmony H44.
 

jp

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Never cared for Harmonys much, but I've heard some folks that have made them sing! Lots of jangly 60s pop.

It still surprises me that prices for budget brands from the 60s and 70s have risen so much. Lots of misinformation out there too, especially from young'uns who aren't knowledgeable enough to distinguish old gems from old crap, especially with the budget brands. I'm not really fond of the trend of buying the name and trademark for new products, either. Few do it well, and it's so unoriginal. But hey, if someone wants to give it a go, have at it!
 

Walter Broes

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I think the renewed interest in Harmony guitars has a lot to do with two west coast Blues Players.
-Junior Watson first with Rod Piazza's "Mighty Flyers") played (and probably still occasionally plays a silvertone Espanada, which is functionally a H-62 really. Ever since Watson started playing these, his Harmony + Fender Reverb tank + tweed Fender amp has pretty much become the "standard jump blues rig" for blues players all over the world.
A lot of the H-62 types were pretty nice guitars btw, if you're into that kind of guitar.

-Rick Holmstrom, who currently plays in Mavis Staples' band, started using the Les Paul Shaped Stratotones, and again sparked somewhat of a craze for these. Nice original ones have almost quadrupled in price in recent years.
Holmstrom talks about this in a recent issue of VG magazine, and a funny detail is that while Watson originally inspired Holmstrom to pick up a Harmony (a H-62), Holmstrom's use of a Harmony solidbody in turn inspired Watson to start playing them too.

Last time I checked, there were a couple of clips of a fairly young Watson with the mighty Flyers playing his Espanada up on Youtube, and there are plenty of clips up of Holmstrom playing his Harmony guitars, solo as well as with Staples. Great, inventive players, both of them, with nice greasy guitar tones.
 

coastie99

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Walter Broes said:
I think the renewed interest in Harmony guitars has a lot to do with two west coast Blues Players.
-Junior Watson first with Rod Piazza's "Mighty Flyers") played (and probably still occasionally plays a silvertone Espanada, which is functionally a H-62 really. Ever since Watson started playing these, his Harmony + Fender Reverb tank + tweed Fender amp has pretty much become the "standard jump blues rig" for blues players all over the world.
A lot of the H-62 types were pretty nice guitars btw, if you're into that kind of guitar.

-Rick Holmstrom, who currently plays in Mavis Staples' band, started using the Les Paul Shaped Stratotones, and again sparked somewhat of a craze for these. Nice original ones have almost quadrupled in price in recent years.
Holmstrom talks about this in a recent issue of VG magazine, and a funny detail is that while Watson originally inspired Holmstrom to pick up a Harmony (a H-62), Holmstrom's use of a Harmony solidbody in turn inspired Watson to start playing them too.

Last time I checked, there were a couple of clips of a fairly young Watson with the mighty Flyers playing his Espanada up on Youtube, and there are plenty of clips up of Holmstrom playing his Harmony guitars, solo as well as with Staples. Great, inventive players, both of them, with nice greasy guitar tones.

Interesting Walter; thank you.

Rick Holmstrom had me puzzled; I knew I'd heard of him, but couldn't recollect where.
Went to the couple of Rod Piazza albums I have, looking for Watson, and found Holmstrom ! Of course !

Then I thought that maybe Watson was in the Piazza band when Jimmy Rogers did "Feelin' Good" with them (1984), and sure enough he was.

I'm off now to visit Youtube !
 

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I can see where you're coming from Walter, but these things came from the factory needing neck resets, fret dressing and God knows what else. Most of them went out in the trash because they were utter crap. I suspect the ones that survived may have been one of the flukes that were actually playable, sounded good, and had someone who took care of it. Not to mention that short scale that a lot of them had.<shudder>

I don't understand the marketing strategy. How long do they think they can milk the nostalgia market?

Maybe it's because I'm still raising kids, but all my equipment was bought because it was cheap and unwanted. That's how I was able to rationalize the purchases. There's no way I can rationalize having a Harmony, even if it's a good one, for a thousand dollars.
I'd rather have the panache of a Gretsch electromatic, if I wanted a cheap electric.

<edit>

Blues is back to getting no respect in the US, for the most part. Fortunately, some of the college stations have blues shows and I have the internet...
 

The Guilds of Grot

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