The Harmony Guitar Company - One Of The Oldest And Largest US Guitar Manufacturers

 

1949 Harmony Patrician 

At age 13 I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I already played clarinet in the school band, and had taken some piano lessons. For my birthday my Dad took me to a pawn shop located on the West Side of Cincinnati. For $20 he purchased a guitar. For an extra $5 the salesman threw in a set of Black Diamond Strings and a tuning pitch pipe.

That first guitar I owned was a late 1940's archtop Harmony Patrician. Though the neck said "Steel Reinforce", but those heavy Black Diamond strings caused the neck to bow about a half an inch above the neck at the 12th fret. So the steel reinforcement really did not do much good.

And though it was a challenge to play, I learned the basic chord patterns and got a start with that instrument. Old Harmony Guitars will always have a warm place in my heart.

I later learned that The Harmony Company, at one time was the one of the largest and most successful musical instrument builders in the United State. "Harmony" was the trade name of given to the company that was established in 1892 by Wilhelm Schultz.

1920 Harmony Uke

During the early part of the 20th Century the ukulele craze hit college campuses. Young men with bulky raccoon coats and ukuleles could be seen serenading girls. It was during this era, 1916 to be exact, that Sears, Roebuck and Company purchased Harmony so that they could corner the ukulele market.

1920's Sears Catalog

Sears was the nation’s largest retail merchandise store. They were the Amazon of their day. This was especially true do to their catalog sales and they sold many musical instruments through their catalog; especially guitars. It was opportune that both the Harmony Company and Sears Roebuck were based in Chicago.



The man leading Harmony in those early days was Joseph Kraus.
Sears retained him as chairman of the company through 1940.

Harmony Factory

By 1915 Harmony was indeed the largest producer of ukuleles and banjos in the United States. During these early years Harmony produced violins and other folk instruments. In fact Harmony became the largest manufacturer of violins in the United States. They had quit making them for a long time and then started building violins again in the late 1930’s.

Harmony was possibly the first company to build a long neck Pete Seeger style banjo, even before Pete's Vega version was made.


By 1923 Sears was selling over a quarter of a million instruments a year. Seven years later this figure doubled.

'29 Harmony Smeck Vita Uke

In 1928 the company introduced Roy Smeck models of ukuleles and guitars. This multi-instrumental string player was very popular at the time. His name was also added to a line of lap steels and electric guitars.

Though Harmony was manufacturing guitars, banjos violins, and mandolins, Sears, Roebuck and Company sold those instruments under their own Silvertone brand name.  Harmony also produced musical instruments under at least 57 brand names for other wholesale and retail organizations.

Some of the brands that are actually Harmony instruments include the brand names Holiday, Vogue, Valencia, Johnny Marvin, Nobility, Monterey, Stella among others.

1950's Harmony
H-1311 Cremona

All of the "arched top" guitars that Harmony produced did not have an actual carved top, like the ones expertly carved on high end guitars. Instead the wood for the top, usually spruce, was dampened and placed in a heated form, then pressed into an arched shape.

During the early 1930's Sears bought brand names owned by the bankrupt Oscar Schmidt Company, which included La Scala, Stella and Sovereign. Stella guitars were a popular guitar for Blues players.

Harmony Exhibit - Lillibridge Gallery

In 1940, Harmony Chairman  Joseph Kraus had a conflict with company management and left. However he had acquired enough stock to have controlling interest and he restarted the Harmony Company independently.

Very Early photo of the Harmony Factory

Like many other guitar companies, Harmony sales peaked in 1964 to 1965 selling 350,000 instruments annually. As foreign competition crept in, and domestic sales declined.

H-54 '63 Rocket & 60 H-75

Harmony electrics took their queue from Gretsch and Gibson. Most of the guitars pickups were manufactured by Rowe Industries Inc. also known as Rowe DeArmond, which was based in Toledo, Ohio.

Vintage guitar magazine price guide puts the current value of a Harmony H76 at between $1100 and $1200 USD. It sold for $200 to $300 new.

1939 Harmony H-1248

The very first Harmony electric was the Spanish Electric model H-1248. It was manufactured during 1939 and 1940 and sold through Sears. The pickup on this guitar was similar to the one on their lapsteel model. A similar guitar was sold as early as 1936 under the Supertone brand name.

Sound Project Amp

Many of the Harmony/Silvertone amplifiers were made by Sound Projects of Cicero, Illinois.

1947 Harmony 200 aka 1300 amp

While other Harmony Amplifiers was made by the Valco Company.

Harmony H-400 student amp

The Harmony H-400 series were updated tube amps made during the 1960's.

Silvertone Twin Twelve model 1484

The more popular amps such as the "Silvertone  Twin Twelve" produced in the 1960's were made by the Danelectro Company of Neptune, New Jersey, which was owned by Nate Daniels. Though they were not sold under the Harmony brand name, they were sold by Sears, under their Silvertone brand..

These Silvertone amplifiers are perhaps the ones that most of us remember.

Harmony H1213

During the 1940’s through the 1960’s Harmony produced a line of archtop guitars  These guitars were more popular with Big Band players of the 40's and 50's.

1960's Harmony Sovereign

By the mid-1950's flat top guitars had gained in popularity. Perhaps Harmony's best flat top guitar was The Sovereign model H-1260. It was a full bodied instrument with a solid top, mahogany back and sides, ladder bracing, and it had a big booming sound. It was the company's top of the line acoustic model from 1958 through 1971. The Harmony Sovereign is a fine instrument.

Harmony Headstocks

From the photo you can see “Steel Reinforced Neck. Most Harmony guitar necks were not adjustable.

Harmony Stella H-930

On many of the less expensive instruments, such as the Harmony made Stella. The fret markers were merely painted in the appropriate places. On some instruments the pickguards were painted directly on the soundboard. The tailpieces on the lower end models were made of cheap pressed metal. Some even had the tailpieces, bridges, and pick guards screwed into the wood.

Harmony Patrician

Harmony guitars that survived from the 1940’s, although made of pressed tops, they were very nice instruments and made of solid spruce or mahogany. Even lower end models were usually made of solid birch. The tops were never laminate.

Catalina H-1220 and H-1221

Perhaps the more unusual Harmony arched top guitars were the two tone Catalina Series guitars. These were manufactured between 1955 through 1958.

1931 H-1502 and 1971 H-930T

Harmony was one of the few manufacturers to include a tenor guitar in their offerings. In fact there were 34 different models offered from 1931 through 1971.

1944 Harmony H-165

Harmony also offered a solid wood, all mahogany alternate to those all mahogany Martins sold in the 1940's. The H-165, made from 1944 to 1958 featured a 'figure 8' shaped body with rounded edges. The body shape changed in 1958, and this guitar was offered through 1971.

Harmony Stratotone H-44

One of the more unique electric Harmony guitars that was offered beginning in 1952, was the Stratone H-44. This guitar featured a neck-thru body construction, with "wings" added to form the cutaway shape. It came in a one or two single coil pickup version.

H-45 and H-46 Stratone Mars

The H-45 and H-46 Stratone Mars were instruments I remember. These were produced from 1958 to 1965, and resembled a 'poor man's' Les Paul. The H-45 had one single coil pickup, while the H-46 came with twin single coils. Both instruments had bolt on necks. Mars was an important selling feature, as this was the era of all-things-outer space.

1963 H-14 and 1963 H-15

Around 1963, coinciding with the beginning of "The British Invasion" and guitar guitar boom, Harmony offered the Bobcat. This guitar came in several versions. Based on its shape, it appears it was to compete against the inexpensive Kay Vanguard.  The H-14 Bobcat came with a single pickup and a "W" vibrato, while the H-15, and H-15V featured twin single coil pickups. These guitars were offered through 1972.

1967 Harmony
 H-60 Meteor

The Harmony H-60 Meteor was the company's answer to Gibson's ES-330 and Epiphone's Casino, in appearance only. While this guitar came with the 330's double cutaway hollow body, which was made of laminated maple and arched. But the Harmony guitars neck was bolted on to the body The twin pickups were enlarged DeArmond  Gold Foil single coils pickups. The H-60 Meteor came with or without a Bigsby vibrato. This guitar was offered until 1970.

1972 H-682 Rebel

In 1972 Harmony offered the H-682 Rebel, which perhaps was meant for those who could not afford a Rickenbacker. Though the hollow body shape may have been reminiscent of a Ric, everything else was much different. It came with a single oddly shaped "F" hole. The body was bound. It had two single coil pickups, which were controlled with two on/off slider switches, and four slider potentiometers. These adjusted the volume and tone of each pickup. The bolt-on neck was topped with a six-on-a-side headstock. The guitar was available in sunburst or avacado.

This same guitar was available in 1968-1971 under the designation H-82 Rebel. The main difference was the older variation had a roller bridge.

1967 H-19 Silhouette

From 1963 to 1967 Harmony's offered the H-19 "The Silhouette", which resembled Fender's Jazzmaster/Jaguar's body shape. It came with a Hagstrom vibrato and twin DeArmond Gold Foil single coil pickups that were mounted on top of the pickguard.

From as early as 1947, Harmony made some impressive Jazz style guitars.

1951 Harmony H-60

Perhaps one of the company's best offerings for Jazz player was the model H-60. It was produced from 1951 to 1955. It feature a single pickup guitar, and a 3 and a half inch single cutaway body of solid wood. 

The single coil pickup was a P-13 pickup made by Gibson.

This was a gorgeous instrument and featured a set-in neck, which was not adjustable.  In later years, Harmony used to H-60 designation for it's Meteor series.

Harmony H-62

The double pickup version of Harmony's Jazz guitar was known as the H-62. It was offered from 1953 through 1964. The original versions came in blonde or sunburst and had a three and a half inch depth body, topped with two Gibson made P-13 single coil pickups. The Harmony logo is inlaid. The solid arched top is made of spruce, and the back and sides are mahogany. This guitar originally came with an extended faux tortoise shell pickguard. This was Harmony's top of the line Jazz guitar. In 1960 the body depth was changed to two and three quarter inches.

H-63 Espanada

One other Jazz style guitar made by Harmony was The H-63 Espanada. This guitar was made from 1955 through 1964. Like the prior Jazz boxes, The Espanada originally had a body with a depth of three and a half inches. the entire guitar was done with a glossy jet black finish. It too had twin Gibson made P-13 pickups. An aluminum badge that said Espanada in script was glued on the upper bout, and on the headstock. In fact it did not mention Harmony. What was also very unique was that from 1955 through 1957 the guitar's body was bound in aluminum trim.

Beginning in 1968 this changed to white/black/white binding. In 1960, the bodies depth was diminished to two and three quarter inches. 

Harmony H75 & H59

Harmony's line  resembled Gretsch and Gibson guitars, but did not have the complicated switching of a Gretsch, nor did the Harmony versions have the quality of Gretsch and Gibson. But for the money these were quite nice instruments.

Harmony - Fender

Ironically when Fender was trying to break into the acoustic guitar market, the first guitar line they offered in their catalog was made by Harmony guitars with the Fender brand on the head stock.

Baldwin 801 by
Harmony

When Baldwin purchased Burns of London and Gretsch guitars, they did not have a classical model.  So they turned to Harmony manufacture “Baldwin” classical guitars.

Harmony H-173

The Harmony H-173 Classic nylon string model is the same guitar as the Baldwin 801C, but the H-173 did not come with the Prismatone piezo pickup, nor did it have a rosette. It was a very plain student style instrument. Both Jerry Reed and Willie Nelson were given 801C guitars and matching amplifiers by Baldwin Guitars.

Baldwin Prismatone Piezo Pickup

Guitarist Jerry Reed loved it, because it came with a Prismatone Pickup. Reed purchased three of these instruments and took them to a Nashville music store to have a luthier install cutaways on each of them. 

Baldwin Guitar and Amp 

As mentioned, to promote Baldwin (Harmony) guitars, Jerry Reed and Willie Nelson were given Baldwin 801c guitars and Baldwin C1 amplifiers. Jerry owned several of these guitars and had a luthier put in a sharp cutaway in some of them. 

Trigger

Willie Nelson's Baldwin guitar was left on a stage and a drunk put his foot through it, smashing the top. Willie took the instrument to Shot Jackson's Guitar Shop for repair. Mr. Jackson could not fix it, so he sold Willie a Martin N-20 classical guitar and installed the Baldwin's Prismatone pickup on it. This guitar has become associated with Willie, the one he calls Trigger. 

1975 Harmony 12

Harmony Guitar Company shuttered its doors in 1975. By these years the manufacturing had ceased and the company was mainly importing and relabeling Asian manufactured instruments.

In the early 2000's the Harmony trade name was sold to the Westheimer Corporation which briefly continued to market imported “reissue” Harmony guitars. 

Bandlab Technologies

In 2018 the rights to Harmony's tradename were acquired by Bandlab Technologies, the Singapore based company that created Cakewalk software for recording. Bandlab was started in Boston, then acquired by Gibson until 2017, and then sold to Bandlab.

2017 Harmony Guitar Line Up

Around that same time Bandlab reintroduced Harmony guitars.  The guitars are now made in China. Though the names are similar to some of the older Harmony electric models, but the shapes, and pickups have changed.

2019 Harmony 8418 Amp

Harmony recently introduced a five watt tube amplifier that appears to be a winner. The Harmony model 8418 features a 6" Jensen speaker, and a single volume control. It was designed using the original blueprints.

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