Harmony guitars at NAMM - any more info?

[brain21band]

Has anyone played any of the reissued archtops from Harmony? I see the pics, I saw some youtube vidz from winter NAMM, but none were on the archtops.

I am wondering about feel, sound, and construction. The old ones had handcarved tops, and the newer ones (I think late 60's onward) had laminate tops, but were still essentially handmade.

I am wondering how the new ones stack up against the old ones (obviously age is going to make a difference in the tone, so you can't be totally objective, but that's OK).

The H310 (the reissue of their old H1310s and H6510s) looks beautiful on their site, but how it plays and sounds in real life might be another matter entirely.

Thanks,

Brain21

[rhat]

Has anyone played any of the reissued archtops from Harmony? I see the pics, I saw some youtube vidz from winter NAMM, but none were on the archtops.

I am wondering about feel, sound, and construction. The old ones had handcarved tops, and the newer ones (I think late 60's onward) had laminate tops, but were still essentially handmade.

I am wondering how the new ones stack up against the old ones (obviously age is going to make a difference in the tone, so you can't be totally objective, but that's OK).

The H310 (the reissue of their old H1310s and H6510s) looks beautiful on their site, but how it plays and sounds in real life might be another matter entirely.

Thanks,

Brain21


Harmony made in the latter 60s were pretty well viewed as junk by the majority of musicans. I knew exactly nobody that played one.

[John Backlund]

Some pretty famous people played the Harmony 'Sovereign' 2160 acoustic jumbo in the mid 60's (John Lennon for one). It was not considered junk at that time...and in my opinion, still isn't. I owned one back then too.

It'd be nice if Harmony could re-introduce that model, but to make one today as nicely as the originals would be cost prohibitive.

[Jon Chappell]

Some pretty famous people played the Harmony 'Sovereign' 2160 acoustic jumbo in the mid 60's (John Lennon for one). It was not considered junk at that time...and in my opinion, still isn't. I owned one back then too. It'd be nice if Harmony could re-introduce that model, but to make one today as nicely as the originals would be cost prohibitive.

John,

I have a business card I got from the show from BMMP, Inc., with Kevin Maxfield's name on it. On the back is a really cool guitar photo by "J. Backlund Designs." Is that you? Did we meet and I spaced on our meeting?

Begging forgiveness in advance,

Jon

[Jon Hiller]

I played 3 or 4 of them at the booth, and I thought they felt great, including the one I took the photo of that's over in the NAMM photos thread, although there was so much noise in the room that I couldn't really tell anything about their sound.

[Jon Chappell]

I played 3 or 4 of them at the booth, and I thought they felt great, including the one I took the photo of that's over in the NAMM photos thread, although there was so much noise in the room that I couldn't really tell anything about their sound.

I couldn't resist the guitars at the Harmony booth either. I played the Rocket (the one with all the knobs along the edge) and the Stratotone.

[John Backlund]

:thu:John,

I have a business card I got from the show from BMMP, Inc., with Kevin Maxfield's name on it. On the back is a really cool guitar photo by "J. Backlund Designs." Is that you? Did we meet and I spaced on our meeting?

Begging forgiveness in advance,

Jon

None needed!

That'd be me! but I couldn't go to Nashville so you didn't miss me there. I have yet to hear from either Kevin or Bruce (Bennett) about how the show went for them, but I imagine that I'll hear from them before too long. I think they were supposed to have one of my(their) JBD-100 guitar designs at their booth (ivory/black) and two others hangin over at Lace's display (Blue/ivory and red/ivory) but i really don't know, and there are apparently no photos of them that I can find.
Oh sure!...then I found one..(But I didn't know they were a bowling team too :cool:)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/JohnBacklund/Image1-1.jpg
Photo info says 'uploaded by mmolenda'. I found it at 'musicplayer.com'

I will be at Anaheim in January if Bennett-Maxfield is going, so I'll see a bunch of HCer's there perhaps.

[Bruce Bennett]

Hey John!
It's been a busy two days since NAMM.
I posted a poem that pretty much tells the story ( from my perspective anyways)

I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk . cool that you found a photo.. I've looked a little but haven't found much yet.
But we did 5 Video interviews, and I can't even guess how many photos...

[Bruce Bennett]

and to the OP..
The Harmony guitars were very nice.... not cheap though.

[John Backlund]

I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk

Yo Bruce! I'll be away from home from about 1:00 PM to maybe 4:30 PM mountain time tomorrow afternoon...so that'd be something like 11:00AM to 2:30 PM Chattanooga time....I think.

[rhat]

Some pretty famous people played the Harmony 'Sovereign' 2160 acoustic jumbo in the mid 60's (John Lennon for one). It was not considered junk at that time...and in my opinion, still isn't. I owned one back then too.

It'd be nice if Harmony could re-introduce that model, but to make one today as nicely as the originals would be cost prohibitive.


Did he buy his at sears?

[rlindsey0]

Some pretty famous people played the Harmony 'Sovereign' 2160 acoustic jumbo in the mid 60's (John Lennon for one). It was not considered junk at that time...and in my opinion, still isn't. I owned one back then too.

It'd be nice if Harmony could re-introduce that model, but to make one today as nicely as the originals would be cost prohibitive.

I had one too. It was not junk by any means, though it was not what I would call a great guitar either.

[John Backlund]

Did he buy his at sears?

Why yes!...yes he did!!! how did you know that?

Actually, many small-town mom and pop music stores sold Harmony guitars too. That's where I bought my first brand new guitar from in 1966 or '67, and it was a Harmony acoustic.

I took it with me when I hitch-hiked to New Mexico from my home town in Southwestern Minnesota..there I traded it, a leather jacket, and $200 cash for a beat up 1961 Renault 'Dauphine' and drove it back home.

[rhat]

Why yes!...yes he did!!! how did you know that?

Actually, many small-town mom and pop music stores sold Harmony guitars too. That's where I bought my first brand new guitar from in 1966 or '67, and it was a Harmony acoustic.

I took it with me when I hitch-hiked to New Mexico from my home town in Southwestern Minnesota..there I traded it, a leather jacket, and $200 cash for a beat up 1961 Renault 'Dauphine' and drove it back home.



I had a stella ,, harmony built that too. It was nasty. The only way it really was playable was with nylon strings,,, It was good enough to learn to play chords on but had zero acoustic tone. I tried to look up that model you said lennon played on a harmony website. I could not find it.

All the guys I was playing with in 66 and 67 were playing gibsons and fenders. Later on a guy had a gretch and a rick. I would guess that harmony is building alot better guitars now than they did back in the mid 60s. It would be very hard to build worse ones lol. I have never played one of the pre sears old harmony guitars. I have heard they were good instruments. My cousin has a Kay string bass. Its really old. It was not anyting like the cheap Kay guitars of the 60s.

[John Backlund]

I tried to look up that model you said lennon played on a harmony website. I could not find it.

I'm still looking for something on that too, but here's a few rather interesting Harmony 'Sovereign' bits to be rather amazed at in the meantime. This particular Harmony guitar (H1260) has some real History....

From Wikepedia (I've heard of this before too...concerning the studio version of Led Zepellin's 'Stairway To Heaven)
The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1958 Fender Telecaster (an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds)[10] plugged into a Supro amplifier, although in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine, Page also claimed, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember".[8] Three different solos were recorded, with Page agonizing about deciding which to keep. The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony acoustic guitar and Fender Electric XII (12-string); these can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For live versions, Page switched to a Heritage Cherry Gibson EDS-1275 6/12 Doubleneck guitar.

The Harmony Guitar Page used was a H1260 'Sovereign' acoustic.

Here's Pete Townsend with his H1260 ca. 1967. He bought a Gibson J200 in 1968 which replaced his Harmony that year. According to the source, he used the Harmony for studio work and demo recordings: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/guitar/equip-harmony6.html
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/JohnBacklund/PeteTownsends2160.jpg


Here's another one...

Christies Auction House-Rock and pop memorabilia-New York-Monday, 4 December, 2006----Lot 37-$24,000-"Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar played extensively by Bob Dylan, 1972"-sold to: U.S. private.

[rhat]

I'm still looking for something on that too, but here's a few rather interesting Harmony 'Sovereign' bits to be rather amazed at in the meantime. This particular Harmony guitar (H1260) has some real History....

From Wikepedia (I've heard of this before too...concerning the studio version of Led Zepellin's 'Stairway To Heaven)
The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended Jimmy Page guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1958 Fender Telecaster (an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds)[10] plugged into a Supro amplifier, although in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine, Page also claimed, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember".[8] Three different solos were recorded, with Page agonizing about deciding which to keep. The other guitar parts were played using a Harmony acoustic guitar and Fender Electric XII (12-string); these can be heard on the left and right recording channels respectively. For live versions, Page switched to a Heritage Cherry Gibson EDS-1275 6/12 Doubleneck guitar.

The Harmony Guitar Page used was a H1260 'Sovereign' acoustic.

Here's Pete Townsend with his H1260 ca. 1967. He bought a Gibson J200 in 1968 which replaced his Harmony that year. According to the source, he used the Harmony for studio work and demo recordings: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/guitar/equip-harmony6.html
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/JohnBacklund/PeteTownsends2160.jpg


Here's another one...

Christies Auction House-Rock and pop memorabilia-New York-Monday, 4 December, 2006----Lot 37-$24,000-"Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar played extensively by Bob Dylan, 1972"-sold to: U.S. private.



One thing for sure ,, it didnt take him long to dump the harmony for the J200. I think alot of times we forget just how much money our rock gods didnt have when they were first launching their careers. Its like some of the gear the great blues guys used. It wasnt because it was so great ,, it was all they had .

[John Backlund]

One thing for sure ,, it didnt take him long to dump the harmony for the J200. I think alot of times we forget just how much money our rock gods didnt have when they were first launching their careers. Its like some of the gear the great blues guys used. It wasnt because it was so great ,, it was all they had .

This is true for the most part, but in the case of at least this one model of Harmony guitar, it was at least good enough for some professional use and by well known artists. The H1260 was a far cry from any Stella (I had one of those too in the the mid 60's....for about ten minutes, and it was every bit the crap you describe it as). Believe me, the large sovereign was a very good guitar and sounded great. I would love to find another one in decent shape when I can afford it, but a really good example these days can easily be over $500, and that's because so many people owned them at one time and fondly remember them as a very attractive, good-sounding, decent instrument, as I do.

I will say however, that the jumbo Sovereign H1260 model and it's U.S. built variations, is the only Harmony acoustic that I have any interest in.

Would I take a Gibson J200 over a Harmony Sovereign if offered the choice?....hell yes!!!!:), but I still like them anyway.