Harmony 954 Master Archtop

This is a solid, probably mahogany, arch-top, pressed/molded, not carved, tobacco finish, pretty but had awful spray-painted fret markers when I got it. Rugged frets, neck had wear showing its age. Harmonies were made in Chicago, the best for the money you paid as they said. Build like a tank. Neck has truss rod but no adjustment. Tuners, not the best.

What the hell, my parents bought this for me at a flea market for all of 15 bucks. My teacher demanded that I ditch that Stella for something playable. I learned on this axe.

OK. I had a Guild jumbo 12 with a magnificent voice, a Gibson J-50. No longer have them. Still have the Harmony.

Would have a bigger sound with heavier strings and a higher action but the neck will not stand that. With lighter strings, the sound is weak but nice and above all, the neck is straight and the intonation is good.

It needed electronics. I found in a layer of dust a vintage D'Armond (Harmony's own great sound) tack on magnetic pickup, put it my own circuit (treble boost similar to a tele?). Switch from high, balance-acoustic-like, jazz mellow.

You have to luck out with these. This was Harmony's low end, but this is the one I kept. I usually plug it in to hear it but can go naked as well in a quieter room.

Mine, at least, needs light strings since the truss rod cannot be adjusted. Used silk and steel in the folk era, use light guage electric strings (round wound) now.

Solidly build like most Harmonies.

I had the neck and frets dressed (getting rid of that awful paint)

Harmony instruments are build like tanks. This one got rammed into a subway pole (I fixed a couple of non-functional cracks). It will outlast me, I'm afraid.

Harmony no longer exists for a long time. A pity.

As I said, this is the one I kept and is my working axe. Played occasional gigs with a Fender Princeton amp with thunderous microphonics if I used its spring-reverb. Vintage all the way. Played through the folk revival before I electrified it. Played the streets of Jerusalem with a Ross amp carried in a backpack with a heafty 12-volt storage battery (the kind sold for videos and pro photographers). Who could ask for more for an investiment (not counting electronics) of $15.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd weep. Won't find another one so quickly and I cannot afford the big Gibson to replace it.

Wish it had better unplugged sound but the tradeoff was playability and intonation.

Finish - Tobacco Burst (or 2-tone) type top, back, sides, and back of neck.

Style - Archtop/Dreadnought size (maybe a little bigger than standard dreadnoughts.

Neck - pretty fat, looks kind of like mohagany, not sure though.

Made in Spring '65.

19 Frets

Solid Top

No Electronics.


A great guitar for what I wanted. I can play some mean delta blues on this beast.

Suits my style (delta blues) perfectly.

Booming sound, with some brightness with brand new strings.

Likes: Booming low end! at $160 I never thought I would get such full low end. I feel that the power of the low end is actually comparable to the Gibson Southern Jumbo!

No Dislikes, it's just what I needed.

Got it used.

Raised the action (for slide and a bigger sound)

Lots of flaws (cracked top near f-hole, replaced pick guard, replaced tuning pegs, bridge is not glued down...but it stays in place when all the strings are on, plus it's adjustable).

I needed a beater that sounded great and didn't break the bank. I can't complain about the flaws. I was looking for something that had been through it.

Oh, the burst finish is great, aside from the cracks and all. There's a little bit of birds-eye action throughout the top, back, and sides.

I think this tank could withstand anything. It's over 40 y/o and feels like it's better made than anything new at that price range or even at 5x the price.

I will probably replace the tuners with some gold vintage gibsons, other than that, the hardware seems like it's built to last.

Strap buttons are solid.

I feel I can absolutely depend on it.

Would use in a gig w/out backup.

Haven't had anything to do with the company.

I have been playing for about 10 years now. I have a '93 prs custom 24 10 top Gold Hardware Bird Inlays that I play through a fender blues Jr with a Tube Screamer and an Original CryBaby. While I can get pretty emotional with that gear, this Harmony Archtop Acoustic is my source for inspiration. The day that I bought it I came up with three songs on it. I feel as if I was meant to own this guitar. The feel is perfect, the sound is perfect, the look is perfect, and the price sure was perfect. If you feel like writing some blues from the heart, but can't afford the traditional "work-horse" (Gibson J-45 and such), look no further. If you can find one of these, grab it. I could go on forever.