CRAVE Guitars says…
Thumbs up: Great Sixties’ aesthetic and very cool image, originality, exceptional ‘gold foil’ DeArmond pickups, great neck, resonant and light weight, vintage prices
Thumbs down: Brand name on the headstock, single cutaway, fully hollow, average hardware and simple adornments, non‑adjustable truss rod, limited string intonation, pickup selector switch location, lower bridge pickup output, no vibrato, non‑original case
Decree: A seriously cool piece of 1960s musical Americana with heaps of character that is a delight to play. It looks great. It plays very well. It sounds great. Come on, what more could you want from a vintage guitar like this early 1960s Harmony H54 Rocket? Fabulous
Not For Sale
Model Description:
The Harmony Company was originally founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1892 by German immigrant, Wilhelm Schultz. Sears, Roebuck and Company acquired Harmony Company in 1916 to supply guitars for their department stores and mail order business. At its peak, Harmony was the largest musical instrument manufacturer in America. The Harmony Rocket series was introduced in 1959, initially in traditional tobacco sunburst and from 1963 in the more common (and rather fetching) Redburst finish. These were not top‑drawer guitars, they were mass produced and aimed at the budget to mid‑range affordable market. Initially, there were four single cutaway hollow body models; the H53 Rocket I with a single pickup, the H54 Rocket II with twin pickups, the H57 Rocket VII with a simple vibrato and the H59 Rocket III with 3 pickups. Retail prices in 1963 ranged from $85‑$145. The standard spec was a floating wooden bar bridge with a Harmony trapeze tailpiece and a white floating pickguard. From 1968, the bodies became double cutaways to reflect demand at the time (pitched against Gibson’s ES‑335?), the DeArmond pickups were changed from ‘S’ to ‘double moustache’ covers and the neck had an adjustable truss rod. To signify the change, Harmony added a ‘/’ to the model designation. Arguably, the single cutaway H54 dual pickup Rocket II was one of their most familiar, popular and recognisable models. Harmony necks are bolt‑on, rather than set, as used by Gibson et al. Over the decades, Harmony guitars have risen above their original ‘cheap mail order catalogue’ reputation to become increasingly desirable in the vintage collector market as well as with professional musicians, evoking the spirit of early 1960s America. Final Harmony H54 models were produced between 1973 and 1975. Harmony ceased production in 1975. Harmony has been re‑launched since 2018 by Singapore firm Bandlab Technologies. Modern Harmony Guitars are built in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA alongside the Heritage Guitar Company, also owned by Bandlab. To‑date, the H54 hasn’t been part of the company’s reissue range (but the fancier H62 and H72 have), meaning that the originals, particularly the first generation 1959‑1967 models, are becoming increasingly collectable with prices beginning to creep up noticeably on the vintage guitar market and deservedly so.
Guitar Description:
Here, we have a stunning single cutaway 1963 Harmony H54 Rocket II archtop guitars with its pair of glorious ‘gold foil’ DeArmond pickups mounted on a splendid nitro Redburst finish. This beautiful instrument just oozes 1960s Americana cool. It is quite amazing how good it still looks today. The ‘gold foil’ pickups, in particular, are attributed with giving the Rocket its versatile range of tones. The H54 II has a reputation for being great at various music genres, such as blues, jazz, rock & roll, garage, rock and 1960s pop. Playability is very good indeed, and it sounds fantastic through a cooking vintage valve amp. The H54 is light and resonant and its thinline body depth makes it easily manageable whether seated or standing. The Rocket’s condition is superb for its age; it is all original with just a few marks to show for its long life (so far). One thing that I thought looked a little different is the black plastic control knobs. Most (but not all) Harmony guitars of this period came with white plastic knobs (they were made in white, black and brown). I can, however, confirm that these are genuine (and very distinctive) 1960s Harmony ‘cupcake’ knobs – complete with function labels – and original to the guitar. I don’t know about you but I think I actually prefer the black on red. Someone has added an additional (genuine vintage Harmony) strap button near the neck joint. The hollow body, chunky neck and those ‘gold foil’ pickups give the Rocket a lovely bright sound, making it hard to put down – great to pick up and play acoustically. Personally, I don’t mind the fixed trapeze tailpiece but some might find a vibrato preferable. The bridge pickup’s output is slightly lower than on the neck pickup, which may be down to age. Electrically, it is silent, no hum, no scratchy pots, no crackly jack socket, all of which are unusual and a big bonus for a 6+ decade’s old ‘budget’ electric guitar. The original Harmony‑inscribed white scratchplate has a slight crack from the bridge pickup and it has had a relocated strap button at some point. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an original 1960s case (which would be very rickety by now). All in all, a wonderful vintage guitar from the early 1960s that, once picked up, is hard to put down. OK, while the early Harmony H54 Rocket may not be particularly rare, I think you may probably agree that it is certainly pretty darned cool. Harmony by name…
Features:
- Made by Harmony Company in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. in the Fall of 1963
- Thinline pressed laminated archtop hollow body with dual unbound f-holes
- Single rounded cutaway body in nitrocellulose Redburst finish with single white celluloid binding on front and rear edges
- Bolt‑on maple neck with non‑adjustable steel truss rod, white plastic nut
- Unbound ‘ebonized’ fingerboard with 20 thin nickel frets and pearloid dot markers
- Original open gear 3‑on‑a‑side Waverly tuners with white plastic buttons
- Nut width: 15/8” (42 mm)
- Fingerboard radius: 12” (304.8mm)
- Scale length: 25½” (615mm)
- Original chrome plated hardware
- Original floating uncompensated straight bar bridge
- Original DeArmond Golden‑Tone ‘gold foil’, ‘S’ single coil pickups, made in Toledo, Ohio
- Original passive electronics with 3-way pickup selector switch (mounted its own diamond‑shaped white plastic plate), 2‑volume and 2‑tone controls
- Original pots, black ‘cupcake’ volume and tone control knobs, black plastic strap buttons and standard ¼” jack socket on body side
- Original single‑ply white plastic pickguard with black Harmony script logo
- Original chrome trapeze tailpiece
- Overall dimensions: 40½” x 15¾” x 2″ (L x W x D)
- Weight: 5.96lbs (2.7kg)
- Non‑original modern Freestyle ABS moulded hard shell case
- Date Code: F-63 (NB. The stamped date code is usually followed by initials of the inspector at the factory. However, the ink stamp has been smudged. The ‘Made in U.S.A.’ stamp is intact)
Trivia:
The pickups used on almost all Harmony electric guitars and basses were manufactured by Rowe Industries Inc., which would be renamed DeArmond Inc. based in Toledo, Ohio. The pickups were designed by Harold ‘Harry’ DeArmond (1906‑1999). DeArmond also made pickups for Gretsch, Epiphone and Guild amongst others. The Fender Coronado from the mid‑1960s also used DeArmond pickups. Fender acquired the rights to use the DeArmond name in 1998. Once considered to be simple, inexpensive pickups, DeArmond’s ‘gold foil’ pickups are rightfully now regarded in a much more positive light – they are currently very much ‘on trend’, thanks to great contemporary guitarists like, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) and Jack White.
At a glance, the fingerboard looks like ebony wood. It isn’t. It is actually ‘ebonized’ wood (unclear what), used widely on Harmony guitars of the time. Ebonizing involves using a tannin solution (if needed) followed by iron acetate to cause a chemical reaction that reacts with the tannins in the wood fibres to darken the wood and to mimic the appearance of ebony. Ebonizing produces a more durable and consistent result, rather than using a surface pigment like a wood stain.
Harking back to earlier times, all screws, bar the three neck joint screws, are slotted, rather than the more usual Phillips type that were in wide use by the mid‑1960s. Cool.
To reduce costs, the pickup wires aren’t routed through the top, as with most archtop guitars. Instead, the conductors are routed from the front through the lower f-hole, hidden by the scratchplate. It’s not an issue, it is a fascinating insight into Harmony’s production at the time. However, the wiring would look peculiar if the scratchplate was removed for aesthetic reasons (or damage).
Harmony date codes in 1963 were prefixed with either an ‘F’ or an ‘S’, e.g. F‑63. What these mean creates fierce division. One camp suggests that they stand for ‘Fall’ or ‘Spring’ (Harmony had a summer break but there is now ‘W’). The other camp suggests ‘First’ or ‘Second’ for the half of the year in which a guitar was completed. I am happy to sit on the fence and watch mud being flung over it between the two camps.
During the 1960s, Harmony’s main competitor was Airline guitars, which were sold through Sears & Roebuck’s arch rival Chicago‑based department store and mail order giant, Montgomery Ward. Montgomery Ward released copies of Harmony Guitars, principally, the H54 Rocket and the upmarket sunburst 3‑pickup H75/H76 guitars (without and with Bigsby vibrato respectively). Cheek! These flagrant budget copies attract much lower values on the vintage guitar market.
Detail Gallery:
