Harmony H310

Acoustic archtop guitar with solid spruce top, solid figured maple back, figured maple neck, floating mini humbucker pickup w/vol (no tone control), ebony pickguard, ebony tailpiece, and ebony fretboard. That's a lot of high end features in a guitar that is about a quarter of the price of a Gibson ES 175 (which is a very basic guitar anyway). MADE IN CHINA, however the overall quality of this guitar is equal, if not superior to some of the Gibson guitars being made today.

I play jazz. This is a jazz guitar, so it suits that purpose well. The floating mini humbucker gives that classic Johnny Smith tone, add a little treble and you can get close to the George Benson sound. Unplugged the acoustic sound is less that what I expected, however it is not unpleasant by any means, it is just not very loud, even with my .13 strings on it. As it is with all archtop acoustics, you can get feedback when playing loud, but this guitar can be controlled easily with some EQ adjustments.

I don't use any effects, I believe a minimalist setup is the most reliable and therefore safest option in performance. I use a cheapo Fender FM 212R amplifier, which gives an adequate sound. I would love to plug this guitar into a Polytone or something like that.

This guitar is very well made and feels solid when I play it (not flimsy feeling at all). The action in the shop was far too low, and the strings were way to light. I promptly fixed this by putting on .13 Thomastik Enfield swing series strings on it, and raising the action to a more usable height.

One thing that is bad about this guitar is that the pickup is screwed right into the top of the guitar. This is a very crude way of fitting the pickguard, and I can see potential for the top to crack if somebody was to put excessive pressure on the pickguard.

I have gigged several times with this guitar, and am amazed by the overall quality of the instrument. The strap buttons are solid, the finish is not too thick, but just right. I would definitely use this without a backup, in fact, I have on numerous occasions! Of course it is not as durable as a solid body for example...

I've been playing since I was 10 and have been into jazz since I was about 12. My other guitar is a Samick Royale (which is like a cheap version of the Gibson Pat Martino model). I use the Samick for non jazz stuff, and as a backup because it has quite a neat jazz sound too.

If it was stolen, I would hunt down the thief, and replace the guitar immediately. In this price range, there is not many options. There is the Epiphone models, and the Samicks, but they are all laminated. This is made from REAL timber. Giving a much more complex rich tone then a laminated guitar.