Harmony H49 Stratotone Jupiter

Ceder top with a tobacoburst back bound great. Les paul shaped but light cambered body.This one has rosewood bridge I think replaced but works great.string through tailpiece.open tuners work great. Rosewood or ebony neck pearl inlays I belive this one made 1958 USA Five control Knobs tow volume and three tone 3 way selector switch. @ old microphonic type pups cover in gold screen.

Soutern Rock Led Zep. Clapton works great on all.
Kind of noisey if you touch guitar pluged up because of type pups.
Rich and full sound wide range of sounds.
like the old guitar.

Don't know from factory about setup but low action now almost plays itself. No flaws except fret ware from a ton of playing

I think this guitar should get a standing ovation to play as well as it does now cause it has been in use since 1958.till 2006

Company maynot offer warrenty after close to 60 year old Guitar.

Been playing since 1968 and own to much stuffto list here.
If it were lost i would hunt another like it can't be replaced have had guitars costing thousands of dollars and I like this one better.

I have two H-49 Jupiters; one I use, and one I stored away for preservation. The one I use is a 1960 and is modified a bit. The stored one is a 59 and is 100% stock.

The Jupiter H-49 was the top-of-the-line electric guitar in Harmony's line-up during those years. It is a two pickup flat top Les Paul style model and has a really amazing looking SPRUCE top and dark tortise Decco-looking pickguard and pickup bindings, (the spruce top is totally odd for a Les Paul shaped guitar). The back, sides, and neck are maple. The fingerboard is rosewood.

This guitar originally came with a floating rosewood saddle bridge, but I installed a Tune-O-Matic style bridge to enable adjusting of the intonation better (I highly recommend doing this, but DON'T de-face the original bridge as the collectability value will decline). I also removed the complex "Blender" tone circuit and installed a standard 3 position pickup selector switch (...Again, don't de-value your guitar by making this permanent, unless of course, you're keeping it for the rest of your life, like me). It also needed new tuners, so I installed split-post Fender-style tuners.

The 1962 catalog states;
Harmony Stratotone... Ultra thin hollow body electric with Tone Chambers, Ultra-slim neck, and unique Blender Circuit. The Jupiter H-49 is the "Deluxe" Stratotone, (as opposed to the Mars H-47 & 48, and Mercury H-45 & 46 models).

The H-49 has two Golden-Tone Indox single coil pickups (which are made by De'Armond/Rowe)and 6 controls (including the selector switch).

In 1962, the list price was $147.50 and the case was $19.50 extra.

While "sound" is completely subjective, I guess the only thing I can possibly say is these are the fullest sounding single coil pickups I have ever heard. Truly a vintage sound!

The pickups and controls are not noisy, either.

This is the funkiest guitar I have. I fell in love with it immediately when I saw it at a flea market. It is extrememly light weight, so I can wear it all day and night.

The catalog also states it has a curly maple back. It is NOT curly in any way, in fact, it is not figured at all.

The spruce top and funky "Decco" shaped pickguard and bindings are absolutely the coolest things I've ever seen on a vintage guitar.

This guitar will withstand anything. It's so light, it probably could handle a fall or whack better than a heavy Les Paul or Strat.

It has already stood the test of time.

I am a guitar repairman. I do all my own repairs.

I have literally owned hundreds of electrics. I have been in the business since 1977, and have worked at many of the major music shops. I currently work at Barnstorm Music in Medway, MA on the weekends fixin' guitars.

It was made in 1959, It has a blonde top (maybe maple?) and Sunburst back and sides. It has 2 vol 2 tone and one "blender knob" and a chicken head rotary switch for the pic up selector switch. It has 2 Gold/silver Dearmond single coil pic ups that sound great. The neck is soild and has pearl inlay also with real binding and real rosewood. Unlike many other harmonys. The body style looks like a les paul (but won't fit in a les paul case) and is tottaly hollow. The bridge is a old floating style bridge and is really the only weak point on this guitar (intonation wise) And the tunners are open back button tunners. It also came with the original chipboard case

I love the sound of this guitar, I play alot of blues and country and gospel. So I can get deep lows, and twangy highs. It would allso be good for playing surf rock indie rock etc. But it does hum a bit like all old single coils do.

This guitar was originally built to compete with gretch and or even gibson. It has binding. fantastic action (had to reset myself) and great tone. you can't adjust the pic up height which is one down side. But I love the celluliod plastic on it. It's light cause it's hollow. But the one thing i wish it had was a strap button by the neck.

Im not really sure if it would live up to gigging all the time. it's a bit fragile. you have to watch out for the plug jack. cause they break there often with a good bump. Some of the finish is comming off, but hey it is 46 years old. I've had it 5 years and only had one simple problem to fix with it. But the tunners could stand being replaced with some klusions. I've giged with it a few times with no back up. ( im giving it a 10 cause it's 46 years old and has never had any issues)

the new harmony company is not the same as the one from the 50's and 60's. Allso it's been out of production since 65

I think this is a fantastic guitar, i own a gibson SG. but i often reach for the harmony. Every guitar shop i've taken it to has tried to buy it from me. so if it was stolen id be devistated. I have no idea where i would find another one. It has a unique tone and sound that i don't think can be easly duplicated. If you find one buy it. I think there gonna become a cult classic.