Harmony H75

This is a great guitar! I got it from a friend back in 1977 or '78. He had left it in a closet until it was in poor shape. I had it professionally repaired here in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and have been enjoying it ever since.

This particular guitar has a large "H" spelled out in rinestones on the pickguard. Despite how that might sound, it looks cool. Unfortunately, I only have five of the hard to find tone and volume pot knobs. The sixth one if missing. I thought about this for a bit and decided to make new knobs out of dice. I ordered gold dice on line and drilled out the centers to fit the pots' shafts. In my opinion, the gold dice knobs and the gold rinestone "H" combine to make a little bit of Hillbilly heaven.

I prefer single-coil pickups for their sound. They're not so muffled and "heavy" as dual-coil pickups. I enjoy playing blues and r&b style music and this guitar is great for that. The armstrong pickups have a unique sound that is different from the more typical single-coil pickups. As I think of it, it lives in between the sound of my Fender Strat and my Epiphone Les Paul Jr. with P90s. It is a lovely, versatile sounding guitar with great action, great sound and great looks. The young guys who I show it to are always amazed by it!

I run it through an old Randall Pro Tube 1000ii combo and this guitar and that very powerful amp can cover anything I am ever likely to play. The guitar would probably create a lot of feedback at high volumes because of its hollow body design. However, I don't play that loud so it isn't a problem. A buddy of mine who played one of these back in the late '60s used to put cotton balls inside the body to cut the feedback, but I've never needed to do that.

The H75 was one of Harmony's top of the line electric guitars back in the day. The fit and finish of this guitar are still good, although, as I noted, I had some repair work done back in the late '70s to compensate for the previous owner's neglect. The guitar was made in 1970 and is just as solid today as it was when I got it in the late '70s. A couple of years ago, the volume pots began to make some scratchy noises which I cleaned up with some potentiometer cleaner spray from Radio Shack. That's the only repair I've made in many years.

If I played live gigs, I would be confident taking this guitar out without a backup. However, these days I just play at home for my enjoyment. Years ago I did take it out at times and never bothered to carry a second guitar.

Harmony has been out of business since the mid to late '70s. If you see a new Harmony, it isn't from the same company that made this guitar.

If this guitar was stolen, I would certainly look for another. I own several guitars: a 1970's era Guild D25c acoustic, a Guild classical guitar from the '80s, a late '90s Fender Strat, a late '90s Epiphone Les Paul Jr., a 1950's era Harmony Patrician f-hole acoustic (another beautiful, great playing guitar), and a Hagstrom plastic body electric from the early '60s. Of all of these guitars, my favorite electric is the Harmony H75. It plays like butter, has a lot of versatile sounds, and looks and feels great.

USA-made thinline in excellent+ condition, 1967, bought from the first owner who imported the guitar in Holland in the late sixties and barely played it, nicely faded golden oak sunburst, double cutaway, laminated maple top back & sides, segmented f-holes, body- & neck bindings, tortoise headplate & pickguard, screwed on maple neck with block inlaid rosewood fretboard, 24.25" scalelength, original frets, 3 DeArmond Maximum Goldtone single coils (dated september 1966), 3 volume controls, 3 tone controls, 3 pickup switches (on/off) for 7 different sounds, tuners replaced with nickel plated Allparts Klusons, Bigsby B7 from the sixties added to replace a non-original German vibrato-unit, original grey/off white soft case

This guitar has tons of character, not only in appearance, but also soundwise. The DeArmond single coils are the most responsive and dynamic pickups I've ever played. The bridge pickup is great for country and rock'n roll and will distort nicely on a cracked up small Fender amp (I use a '63 Vibroverb reissue and a Blues Deluxe). The middle and neckpickup are best played clean and are suited for any type of roots music. The neckpickup with a little distortion is fine for classis blues, but watch the volume because of the feedback it may produce. When I compare it's sound to my Gretsch Country Gentleman the Harmony comes very, very close. The Gretsch sounds darker and fuller, the Harmony has a greater bite and cutting edge. Totally amazing for a 400 euro-guitar.

when I bought the guitar it was set up just fine by Gijs de Wit, a Dutch customizer. The fast playing medium-scale neck is on the chubby side, which I love, and the action is very low. On my electrics I always use 011-049 strings for more tone and stability. No flaws in the wood and bindings at all, this 38 year old guitar is barely played. I changed the weak tuners with far better Klusons (no drilling required)and the guitar stays in tune better now. I love the two-part wooden bridge, which adds warmth to the sound, I believe. The H-75 came with an incorrect German vibrato (Hoyer, Hofner?), probably installed in the late sixties. I wanted a Bigsby and not the original lyre tailpiece, so I added an old Bigsby B7. This is not the type Harmony used on the H-76 and H-78 (that's the B3), but I like the pressurebar in combination with the wooden bridge. I also changed the small plastic strap buttons with larger metal ones to add security to this beaut. All others parts are original and in great shape.

This sturdy build guitar is in great shape after nearly 40 years, so I'm sure it will last a couple more decades. Of course I play the guitar live, just like my Gretsch and Coronado XII from the same year. The only small problem I have playing at a bigger volume is the feedback it may produce. But that's why we have the Bigsby, the best feedback-controller in the world (ask Neil...). Yes, I would use it without a backup. On the road I change the soft case for an ES-type hardcase.

I really don't know, I believe there never was a Harmony dealer in the Netherlands. Harmony's are very rare to find guitars in my country, another reason I'm so proud of this guitar.

I play the guitar for more than 30 years. Write my own material and made some records (country-rock, folk-rock, rock'n roll). I own a few Martins from the seventies, two Telecasters (my favorite solid bodies), a 12-string Coronado and Gretsch. This H-75 ain't the most expensive guitar I've owned, but it's surely one the best electric guitars I've ever played. Lots of character and looks that kill. Where can you buy a great American-made vintage guitar with this quality for about $500? Many greetings from Holland!