Members LesPaulSpecial1981 Posted June 4, 2012 Members Share Posted June 4, 2012 (edited) deleted Edited November 27, 2017 by LesPaulSpecial1981 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Help!I'maRock! Posted June 4, 2012 Members Share Posted June 4, 2012 i'm not a fan of paying high prices for the budget instruments of yesteryear. see how much you can knock that price down. if you can get it down to $500, then i say go for it. but IMO, $700 is too much unless you absolutely positively love it above everything else you've ever played ever, and won't sell it. because i'm not convinced they're going to go up in price from where they are now. i could be completely wrong, but that's my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billythegoat Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 A friend of mine had a Harmony Rocket from the late 50's early 60's. Looked great, sounded wicked but that neck took some time to get used to. Super fat with small frets, great for slide not so much for chords or leads. Not sure how different that model is but based on the ones I have played $700 is way too much. Personally I would feel comfortable paying between $300-$500 depending on how playable it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrChitlins Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 Probably plays & sounds worse than what you can find in a newer used guitar for a lot cheaper. But if you're terrible (or even mediocre) you may not notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 The market prices for crappy vintage* budget guitars is way too high for me. I'd never pay $700 for a Harmony. *The term vintage now is just synonomus with old, rather than it's old meaning of select great things from the past. If guitar players drank wine, they'd call Arbor Mist from 1988 "vintage" and pay $400 a bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 Usually I only value old instruments when they have features that you can't find in new instruments. For example take this "budget' Harmony acoustic, the 1260 model: These were made in the late 50's, 60's and early 70's. They would be impossible to make today. The neck is solid one piece Hondran mahogany. The back and sides are solid Honduran mahogany. (by "solid" I mean the back is a single 16" wide slab of quartersawn wood unlike Martins and Gibsons. The top and all bracing is solid split billet red spruce. The fingerboard and bridge are Brazilian rosewood The finish is shellac spirit varnish The glue used is hide glue. Built in America. Adjustable truss rod (don't laugh, Martins didn't have one until the 1980's) This was the acoustic that the baby boomer generation grew up on. It's acoustic guitar that Jimmy Page used to play the most famous acoustic guitar piece in the history of rock and roll: the intro to Stairway to Heaven. Lots of famous rock stars learned their first chords on a Harmony Sovereign on both sides of the Atlantic. What a newly manufactured would one cost to buy today that is perfectly accurate? Probably over 2 grand retail I would imagine. They sell all day long for around $500 on the internet. Less if they need work done. My point is that THAT is the definition of a "VINTAGE" guitar. Something you seek out because they don't make them like they used to. Some plywood Japanese guitar? Get out of here with that crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Help!I'maRock! Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 My point is that THAT is the definition of a "VINTAGE" guitar. Something you seek out because they don't make them like they used to. Some plywood Japanese guitar? Get out of here with that crap. that's not really a fair assessment of a hollowbody. laminates were used as a way to reduce feedback. "plywood" would mean every Gibson ES series guitar out there is just "cheap crap". obviously that's not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 I don't see how what country a guitar is made in should be a factor in whether or not it's "vintage". There are a lot of old Japanese guitars better made than alot of USA made Harmony's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LeftyTom Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 Nice looking, but not 7 C-notes worth of pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted June 5, 2012 Members Share Posted June 5, 2012 NO. way to much money for a Harmony they are JUNK now the same as when they were new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Roy Brooks Posted June 6, 2012 Members Share Posted June 6, 2012 You could take a namby pamby approach and pass on it because somebody on the internet said it is "crap" or "junk". Or you could go try it out and see how much you like it. The Harmony H72 is actually one of Harmony's nicer guitars. It is also fairly rare. If you happen to really like it and can't imagine not owning it just buy it. It might be awhile before another one in the same condition comes up for sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretmonster Posted June 6, 2012 Members Share Posted June 6, 2012 I think it's a bit shortsighted to think of Harmony as simply a budget guitar maker. At one time (before they moved mfg to Japan), they were the largest guitar builder in the world. Sure they were mass produced and sometimes sported bridges which gave a graduated incline to the strings, but they also used some of the best electronics and wood available and their solids were often one and two piece bodies. After 50 years, I've never heard any kind of crackle out of my tone or volume controls on a Silvertone Bobcat or my hotrodded H-19 and the bodies are extremely resonant. Harmony made some real tone machines like the Rocket, the Stratotone, the Stella and the Sovereign as well as the solid Jag styles. Don't forget that Duane Eddy used D'Armond pickups not Filtertrons. Truth be told, the old hollow body Harmony's I've tried have delivered more for me than the vintage Gretsches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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