Harmony 950 Monterey

Your basic all-birch, 15.5" archtop. Arched top and back. Top, back, and sides are solid birch. Fretboard I believe is maple. Thin frets. Non-adjustable truss rod. Height-adjustable bridge.

Mine is made in the summer of 1959.

The birch construction yields a rich, mellow tone. Lots of volume. Decent bass response, TONS of mid range, and very little treble.

I play old blues and the occasional hymn on this, it sounds great strummed or fingerpicked. Sounds completely different from a flattop but I would say just as good depending on your style. I play with pure nickel 13's and it gives a very good vintage acoustic sound.

I have played some spruce-topped Gibsons of a similar body style and they are considerably brighter, that is all I can compare it to.

I'm not sure how it came out of the factory but by the time it got to me some tuners were bent, the bridge posts were loose, and the bridge was 1/2" too far forward. And the pickguard was gone and the finish plenty scratched and dinged. Perfect!

These models have tuners with stringposts that sit in plain holes in the headstock so the posts rub against bare wood when you tune. I picked up some tuner bushings to insert into the holes, this makes tuning much easier. The tuner keys are small and the gearing isn't what you'd expect from a modern guitar, so tuning is a pain. But it holds a tune just fine.

The action is about right, luckily I don't need a neck reset (yet). The small frets take some getting used to. I wouldn't blame someone for refretting with medium frets.

Scoring this category is tough, some of these guitars get thrashed over the years and some don't. An ideal specimen will be easy to play and look nice.

It made it 47 years, it will make it another 47 I imagine.

My time machine is on the fritz, haven't tried.

Been playing almost 10 years. Archtops are a blast. The only thing I don't like is a general problem of archtops: you can't get your hands inside them. So it takes a while to clean out 20 years of cobwebs. Repairs can be difficult too, obviously.

Given the price this is an AMAZING guitar. I chose this over the archtones and broadways because I like the looks. I chose this over the Patricians because it was 1/3 of what those usually go for.

My Monterey seems pretty basic . This I like . Made in the summer of 1962 and in very good order apart from a clumsily repaired crack, this is on the contoured side of the guitar , not the top or back which are very nicely preserved . No scratchplate , surprise surprise .I got the guitar with its original hardboard case which is almost perfect.No truss rod .

The sound is chunky and bright , the bronze strings I guess help. My musical applications vary , but I want to use this guitar for everything I do , I can't put it down . I've got a Kent Armstrong jazz pick up that I may install , but I do like this guitar how it is, straight , solid and chunky, with pretty good volume as it is.

I was pleasantly surprised , the action is nice and low and it's a very playable guitar . I think the 'budget' element that all the web pages go on about is entirely true but misleading . The quality of the finish can be criticized , the blobs of glue inside the guitar would suggest the workers at the factory were thinking more about getting out for a beer later on . None of this matters , it's a great little guitar with character, good sound and honesty .

Haven't had it long enough to tell entirely , although it seems pretty damn solid . I'd use it gigging without back up , stays in tune better than any guitar I've had , and I've had a few . The neck and fingerboard are very good , frets are lovely . One potential worry is the very lightweight feel , I'm trying not to get neurotic about it though . It's lasted pretty well so far I guess.

Customer support ? , this Harmony Monterey laughs in the face of customer support and slips ice cubes down the vests of warranties.

This is my first archtop guitar , I think it's a great introduction. I love the guitar, feels good to play and good to own .Obviously if money was no object I'd have aimed a little higher, saying that I got everything I wanted and more.The beauty and style of the archtop, its character and jazziness,with a mean chunky edge if that's how you want to play .A truss rod would have been nice but I'll wait and see, if it ain't broke don't fix it .

1964 Harmony Monterey Model 950 acoustic archtop, from the Harmony Chicago factory. Three on a side (shared strip) open back tuners a la the lower level Gibsons of the same period. Solid mahogany and maple, top, sides and back, but pressed wood and not carved. White plastic binding and a painted on sunburst (black to red) and a metal trapeze tailpiece. Monogramed "M" plastic pickguard that has a felt block under it to the top, thus cutting down the kind of pickguard rattle and buzz you find on other archtops, including certain Gibsons; nice touch. Deep "C" shaped (mahogany) neck, not quite a baseball bat. This is actually my second Monterery. I had another from the same year that was virtually unplayable and needed a neck reset (dep "V" on shape on that neck) badly. I got this one in partial trade for my old one. Near mint, but it lacks any sign of a truss rod. For that reason, I hold back one star. It has all the basic features of a basic archtop, but a bit smaller than most, approximately 15 inches across the lower bout.

"Sweet" best describes the tone. It reminds me of an OM or OOO Martin actually, hard as many may find that to believe. Very balanced string to string and up and down the neck. Not as powerful as bigger instruments, but still well suited to both trad archtop rhythm/chord work and fingerstyle. Since I play jazz, blues and prog, it fits me well. I got it in fact after hearing Eddie Lang, Bucky Pizarelli, Carl Kress and George Van Eps for the first time and going in search of that sound. Of course, that ultimately got me to a Gibson L50 (see review), but this one really does have the legit archtop sound. It records well too, sounding louder on tape than in the room where it projects well even at the relatively small body size. I haven't tried to add a pickup, and I doubt I will. I like it as a straight acoustic. I really must give it a 10.

I got it in excellent condition. There are some finish flaws on the side, as though someone sliced it with a razor or something. The tuners hold well. It may, may, need a neck reset eventually, based on the one I had before. There is some slight buzzing around the 10th fret, but not too badly. It had .010s on it when I bought it, and I have .011 flatwounds on it now. Very easy to play still, and I do like the thick neck.

Everything has lasted 40 years already. There's only one strap button, but I play it sitting down anyway. Whoever had it before me took care of it, and I've done the same so far. It's already demonstrated great reliablility and durability, so top score here.

The Harmony company that made this instrument is long gone. If anything needs doing, I'll go to a local shop.

I've been playing 20 years. Other gear includes the L50 and a Yamaha EF 15 flattop for acoustics, and a Tele, an LP, an ES 125TC and a couple of Danelectros (U2 and Baritone reissues) on the electric side. I got this guitar to get the archtop sound and I wasn't disappointed. I knew the sound was in there because, as messed up as my other Monterey was (action about an inch at the 12th fret), it still had a good sound. Harmony guitars get a bad rap because they are usually found in that condition, but the sound from them is really good. This one, being near mint, really shows the best qualities of the brand. Good tone and playability at a great price. Wonderful little guitar. If you can find one in good shape, get it.

According to the a Harmony site this guitar was made in 1959. It has 19 frets and is a Archtop. It has a laminated top and has the original finish which is a tobacco sunburst sort of thing. It has a metal tailpiece and a wooden bridge (movable). The tuners are 3 to a side on a metal strip. A bit stiff and once tuned don't slip. Neck is Mahogany and there is the nice Harmony logo with "Steel Reinforced Neck" painted below it. No Truss rod. Neck is decently straight. It gets wacky after the 12 fret - I would probably have to do a neck reset to fix it. The pickguard is missing on this guitar. Harmony site said this is normal for these old guitars.

This is my first archtop guitar and I thought it would be a good guitar to keep at my work and play a little jazz on. This guitar has a nice compact sound to it. Comping is nice and chunky and the lead lines are surprisingly clear. I didn't really expect it to play/sound as well as it does. There is a amazing amount of sound that comes off the back of the instrument. It doesn't do finger style very well--but it does every thing else.

I did some work on the bridge to lower the action and I tune it down a half step. This seems to bring out the best in the guitar. Inside there are big splotches of finish. These are thin and don't appear to effect the sound.

This guitar is 44 years old--I don't know if it ever had a case. It appears you can tune it once and year as the tuners are so stiff they don't slip!!. If you wanted to play this guitar on the gig in Hell for eternity it hold up.

Harmony went out of business many years ago--the way they built this guitar they didn't need customer support. As I understand it--they didn't expand their business and the cheaper imports from Asia eventually drove them out of business.

I have been playing about 8 years. I have a Martin M-38, Gibson LGO, Sweet Old Ibanez,Alverez cut away, Cort Les Paul with piezeo and a Hohner ES 335 copy with piezeo. The Harmony is a unique voice in my selection of guitars. If stolen I would probably look for another one.