Used Harmony H41 Archtop Guitar - Gold Foil Rowe/DeArmond pickups - As Is

This guitar is an interesting piece of history. The Hamony Company manufactured musical instruments in Chicago, IL during the 1960s. They sold under their own brand as well as Silvertone (Sears) and Airline (Montgomery Ward) and others. 

The Harmony archtop series were excellent entry level to midrange instruments. Not a Gibson or a Gretsch, but certainly a fine guitar for a working jazz musician. Examples of this guitar in mint condition are few and far between, especially the 2-pickup H-41 model. Those American made guitars often sell for a fairly high price. However, this one is far from mint.

This 50 year old gem could use some love. When it came into the store, it had some pretty serious cracks. It looked like it must have been dropped at some point. One of our techs repaired the cracks in the back and re-attached the back of the guitar to the side.

In prepping this guitar for sale, I noticed a few things. In spite of the "steel reinforced neck" there is no truss rod adjustment. However, the neck is surprisingly straight for a 50 year old, mid-level guitar.

Here's where it gets a little weird - the strings are kinda high as you go up the neck. There's a couple of reasons why. The bridge pickup is on a riser that makes it pretty tall, so in theory, if that pickup were the same height as the neck pickup, you could sand and re-shape the bridge to get the strings lower. BUT, what has really happened is the neck has settled into the neck pocket. That makes this guitar a good candidate for a neck reset. There is a slight gap where the base of the neck meets the body. I could glue it, but I think that decision is best left up to the new buyer and their luthier.

What really makes this instrument valuable are the "Gold Foil" pickups. These were made by Rowe Industries of Toledo, Ohio, and sold under the DeArmond brand. The "Gold Foils" have become highly desirable for players wanting a vintage sound. The original wiring is intact. When Harmony made this guitar, they wired a pretty hefty capacitor to the neck pickup before the blend knob, giving it a very dark "jazz" tone. The bridge pickup goes directly to the blend pot, then there is a much lower value cap wired to the tone knob. If it were up to me, I would wire the neck pickup directly to the blend pot, then put that dark cap on the tone pot and ditch the wimpy cap. But that's me. In the interest of keeping things original, it will be up to the buyer and his luthier as to what to do. 

Bottom line is, whether you like the guitar or not, the pickups with their original wiring are worth pretty close to my asking price. If you want a guitar that would be kind of fun to restore to its original glory, the little bit extra might be worth it. 

If you just want the pickups, I will pull them, along with the wiring harness, out of the guitar and save you some money on shipping. Don't expect a discount, though. It's still going to take some time and trouble to get the electronics out and prepped for shipping AND I'll be stuck with a shell of a guitar.

Either way, here's your chance to own a little piece of history.