Harmony H14 Silhouette

Simple guitar in terms of features. Fender Jazzmaster-style body (yet smaller) made from mystery wood, clubby short scale 20 fret neck, cheap 6-on-a-plate tuners, single ply white pickguard with one Dearmond single coil pickup in the middle position, volume and tone controls plus a tone bypass switch (this allows the player to roll off a preset amount of tone, then switch between that setting and the normal sound), wooden bridge/metal tailpiece, plastic strap buttons. Made in the USA in the mid 1960s and came with a blue/grey cardboard case.

I mainly play blues, and I bought this guitar for two purposes - to obtain a sound similar to that heard on some 50s/60s Chess records (Hubert Sumlin with Howlin' Wolf etc), and for slide. It has a unique sound, almost a Buddy Guy type out-of-phaseness if that makes sense. The pickup must be the main reason, and I can see why people go ape over these Rowe/Dearmonds. Not very noisy either. It sounds very sweet clean, and kind of gnarly overdriven. I can see myself using this little goober a lot. The tone preset is actually quite useful too, I wish more guitars had this feature.

For a 40 year old guitar, mine is in fantastic shape. Very minor wear and that's about it. The action is acceptable - no good for ripping Holdsworth licks but good enough for my style. There isn't much point going over this with a fine-tooth comb. They were a budget guitar in their day, nothing more nothing less.

It's held up for this long. I'll look after it so it should last another 40 years. I would use it for certain gigs although the case doesn't offer much protection.

These are all over eBay. If you can get one in good condition for a good price they make a great little guitar for blues or slide.

i have two, one has 2 pick-ups in it, one is from 63 the other says 71. not many many features, one pick-up that kicks-ass. tone and volume and a switch that is useless because it just turns the tone knob off, haha! nice thick 3/4 scale neck. came with some crappy stock harware i changed, plastic strap locks, cheap-ass tuners, rivited on pick-up and switch. on the other hand has a nice wooden bridge and a metal tail piece.

ok this is where this guitar is a sleeper. this is a find!!!!! although these are cheap low quality sears guitars, they rock. mostly to do with the dearmond pick-up. dearmond made pick-ups for guild and gretsch and ironically for a lot of harmonies. i've never heard such a well rounded pick-up. it's so thin too(physically), it actually sits on the pick guard. and this thing is such a nice player, i usually don't like thick necks but it works here. i hate to give a 10, but my true honest opinion for this category must be no less.

low quality but solid, real wood. players guitar all the way

i did the following things to make it gig worthy. put good metal tuners on, replaced plastic strap buttons, did some rewiring, the ground was just a continuous coiled ribbon, took out the switch and broke the rivets to the pick-up and replaced with screws so i could adjust it. i also grounded the stings via the metal tail piece.

nada

well i was watching my friends vintage guitar store for a week. needless to say i got bored at times and played every guitar in the place. he had some really old poplular expensive models that to me didn't sound that great or play that well. and then there were two harmonies. well i gotta say i had the pre-conception that it was juck because it was an old sears guitar. but i started playing it unplugged and it felt great, better than anything in the store. then i plugged it in and whoa!!! beauty. it looks kinda like a fender jaguar but a lot smaller, looks like a kids guitar. well i kept this behind the counter and played it all week. my friend came back and saw that i liked it and said if i worked on saturday for half a day(40 bucks) i could have it. i sold my lonestar strat with texas specials. i wanted to put another pick-up in for a little more variation, but had trouble matching the sound and output of the stock dearmond. then i saw a two pick-up model on e-bay and bought it for a hundred bucks. some people buy these guitars and chuck em just to get the pick-ups which i've seen sell for 80 bucks. if it was stolen i would be sad but i would know that not many people want these guitars or know what a find they are, you can still find them and they're still dirt cheap. since i have two i'm going to make one all flashy and the other a beater.

This model was made in the Spring of 1966 which is stamped on the underside of the pickguard.

This guitar looks a little like a Fender JazzMaster for which the H14 was made to compete. There were 6 or 7 models of this guitar, starting with the H14. Other models had 2 pickups and/or a tremelo arm.

After taking off the strings and pickguard, I could find no signs of lamination in the solidbody meaning that it is a solid chunk of (per the top) quilted maple. The neck is also solid and a bolt-on. The neck sports 20 frets and is a semi-baseball bat which I love. The truss rod really works, too. The width of the neck at the nut is the standard 1-11/16". The dot inlays on the neck appear to be real abalone.

The single pickup is a DeArmond by Rowe "Golden Tone" single coil pickup whcih measures - get this - 16Kohms! The pickup is angled and situated in the middle of the body. A small swtich on the pickguard allows you to get a bright lead tone or a more mellow rhythm tone from the pickup. The volume and tone controls use tiny pots, but work great.

The tailpiece is bolted on and strings load from the back. The brdige is a floating type made of rosewood.

The tuners are open-back, plastic button type and work very well.

The entire guitar is small and light - very nice!

As the guitar has sparse features (single pup, open-back tuners, single vol and tone controls, bright/dark switch), I only gave her a "7" for features. Had she had a tremelo and another pup, she'd have gotten more. Don't let the "7" fool you, though, as part of the appeal of this guitar is it's simple, unadorned nature.

I play jazz, but like to fiddle with other genres. This guitar seems best suited for old-time rock 'n roll, but would do blues nicely, too. I can coax jazz tone from her that is reminiscient of a brighter 50's tone, too.

I play her through a Fender Acoustasonic Pro A/E. The "Golden Tone" DeArmond pup really accents the effects of the amp whereas with most humbucker-equipped guitars, the effects on the amp are not as apparent.

On the "dark" switch, you get a light, airy, woody tone for rhythm and jazzier single note run. With the "bright" switched on, you get a touch of a sharper edge even though rhythm sounds good with that switch on as well.

If I had to describe it, the tone includes a dash of Strat, a pinch of a 1950's P-90, all mixed with a little humbucker tone. Very unique.

This guitar is 35 years old, so I had to adjust the truss rod to straighten the neck up some for lower action. Now, the action ios a low 2/32" at the 15th fret form E to E. A few frets buzzed on the 3rd and 4th strings, but that was easily remedied by rasing the G and D strings slightly in the saddle notch with a piece of paper. I didn't want to have to raise all the strings and it didn't take much to remove the buzzing.

The finish is a brown sunburst. There are a few small dings and chips, but nothing major. No rust. Everything is original, intact, and working like it should!

Heck, it's been around for 35 years and still works like a champ!

I have been playing for about 7 years. I own several other archtops, preferring them to solid bodies which I have also owned in the past. Even so, I really like this guitar. It's fun and easy to play.

I found this guitar at a local fleamarket.This guitar was made sometime during the 60's( I've heard that it is stamped under the pickguard but I don't want to take mine off just yet) In the USA. It has 20 frets. The controls are rather simple(1 volume, 1 tone). The pickup is some retro thing that looks almost like a mini-humbucker. It was made by DeArmond and are called "Golden Tones".The Body and neck look like Maple. The Finish on mine is called Mohagany Sunburst. The body style looks similar to a Fender Jaguar. It has a stop tailpiece for a bridge and no tremolo. The tuners are pretty generic. The neck is rather large in my opinion but this does improve the sustain tremendously.The fretboard looks like ebony. Great vintage sound!

I play a variety of styles(rock,metal,and blues) and I think it fits people who play blues very well. I run this guitar through a 65-Watt Crate with a variety of onboard effects. This guitar sounds great with chorus and reverb on! It has a great sound that I have never heard before in a guitar. I play a lot of guitars that were made for heavy metal and they just cant get the kind of bright, warm tone that this guitar can produce. Don't try to overdrive this guitar-it wasn't meant for that. I love the sound of this axe!

When I got this guitar it was a mess. Any adjustments that had to be made were the fault of the previous owner(s)that abused it. Now I have it set up exactly as I like it. It has held up well considering its age.

This guitar could withstand anything! The hardware seems very solid with the exception of the tuners. The finish on this guitar shows wear but I imagine it has seen a lot. Mine came with only 1 strap button( it's wood!) so I couldn't tell you how well it holds up. I would definately trust this guitar. It's very dependable. I have never played a gig so I don't know what I would use. This guitar is built like a rock though.

I think the company that built this guitar is DOA. I don't think that I would have much response from it's repair department.

I am not what you would call an expert when it comes to guitars but I think I know a little bit about them. I have been playing a year and own 7 guitars(Dean European Custom Korina, Ibanez GRX20, Silvertone's etc.). If this guitar were stolen or lost I would definately get another. As a matter of fact, I will now buy every Harmony USA guitar that I see for a reasonable price. They are built like tanks!!I love the character this guitar has. Some guitars just have something about them that stands out in a crowd. This is one of them. Great axe!!!

Single pickup sunburst dual gentle cutaway solidbody electric guitar with large white plastic pickguard. Made in U.S.A circa 1964-68, not to be confused with later imported models. The pickup is mounted in the center of the pickguard and has a cheesy looking gold inlay in the center. The guitar has a single slide switch which doesn't seem to do anything (on other models, the switch turns the pickup on and off), volume and tone dials. I am unsure of the type of wood for the neck and body, but the fingerboard feels like rosewood. It has an adjustable wooden bridge. Thick wide neck with jumbo frets. It has cheap tuners (a row of 6 on one plate) but they maintain the tuning.

This guitar has an AMAZING sound despite the single pickup configuration. I think the pickup is a DiMarzio and the wooden bridge gives it a beautiful tone; clear and fat. It also sounds great distorted, even better overdriven. It appears to be all original yet it has no hum or crackling. I use a vintage Teisco 4 watt, a Fender Frontman 15R, and a Peavey 212 Stereo Chorus amp. I have used distortion pedals and reverb with this guitar. The only reason I did't rate the sound a 10 was because a dual or pickup model would sound even better. I've been playing blues, rock, and a little metal (to check the sound) on this guitar.

This guitar is 35 years old (and looks it) so this is impossible to rate. Plenty of rust and wear, but everything is tight & silent. Action is low for a cheap '60s guitar, and moderately fast action.

I would say it has passed the test of time with flying colors.

Company has been out of business for thirty years.

I have been playing for 35 years, own 7 other electrics (Fender US Strat & US Fat Tele, Gibson 1968 ES335-TD, Epi Korona Vee, Japanese Harmony, Takamine solidbody electric, Godin T5000. Alvarez acoustic, Ibanez classical, Grecco 12 string dreadnought, and 3 amps (see "sound" section above). This guitar amazes me with its durability and tone. I'm looking for a 2 or 3 pickup model now. Rating would be 10+ if it had additional pickups.