Harmony Strat Copy

This information is in many of the other reviews. The regular stuff, basically.

This was the first guitar I had. It got to be very noisy. The electronics are shit. However, the tone, when it comes through, is very warm on the lead-type stuff. I had a hard time with the crunchy riffs I like to play though.

Now, I've dug it out after a four-year retirement and have put a new pickup in it. Hopefully, once I get the tuning keys in and try it out, it'll sound good. (The pickup seems to be putting out a clean, non-staticky signal - I bypassed the selector switch and tone knobs.)

It always felt great, and to this day, is one of the best-feeling necks I've played on. The action was a little low, though, and I'm planning on changing that.

Electronics fell apart in about two years. Everything else seems OK.

This is a Korean-made strat made in late 70's, early 80's.It has a maple neck which is quite thin with a kind of filmy sheen to it.Neck looks brand new.non-locking no-name tuners,plastic nut, standard s/s/s pickup config.sunburst 3-tone finish is holding up well.no-name pickups,string thru body bridge config.bought used at a pawn shop (the pawnderosa) for $125 canadian which is apparently what its worth.it has 21 frets 1 volume 2tone controls.

great guitar for blues or early rocknroll.i am using a danelectro dirty 30 amp with dirty sweet distortion and a dano slap-echo.killer blues buzz and surf sound.pups are quiet on all settings.neck pup gives great bluesy buzz, middle gets me a nice clear bell-like sound and bridge gives a super retro-twang. mid-position settings give a good blend of the above sounds.i am very surprised and pleased with the sound after the shop setup.

action and intonation were adjusted, new daddario 10s, pickups adjusted,bridge hole is too large for the bridge which is weird but it works.after 20 years relatively few dents.sunburst finish is still very good, cheap plastic nut,new pup selector.neck is straight and in good condition

this guitar would withstand live playing. it is very heavy and very solid.hard ware has lasted 20 years and it should last another 20.this guitar has been thrown around a bit.finish is holding up very well.strap buttons are solid.this guitar is very dependable but i would still want abackup.

never dealt wih them.

i have been playing for 3 years.i have a 56u2.i wish i had asked if it worked because they had to solder awire to get er going.if it were stolen or lost i would greive for weeks.from reading previous reviews of this product it seems you either luck out with it or not.i lucked out.it looks like the great guitar it is copying and it sounds fantastic.i got this guitar for a fraction of the cost of a fender.it has been a great guitar-buying experience.i would recommend this guitar highly.it is aprized possession.

its basically one of the best guitars ive ever picked up its even better then my dads fender!

it suits my style my dads style and my friends style. it works very well with amps the pick up is exactly the same as a fender. it also can give you varied sounds from heavy to light. i really think the sound of this guitar can compare with any fender

i had to do nothing to it besides tune the guitar. I love the sunburst finish of this guitar. this guitar has only on flaw the plastic bridge sticks out a bit. and the neck olay better then my friends 73' strat.

man this guitar will probebly last me the rest of my life. if the hardware has lasted this long its bound to last a few more at least. i would use this guitar at a gig (if i get one).

the pawn shop will take it back no problem.

ive been playing this guitar for almost a year now and its better than any fender ive picked up so far. if this guitar was lost or stolen i would try to find one just like it. i wish i had a metal pick gaurd and a sway bar made out of solid gold to match the sunburst finish. I think anybody would be happy with this guitar. and i dont know why sombody would spend $5000 for bumpy undressed fretts from gibson, or fender. it used to only the copies that were like this and now the copy is beating the original.

Unknown year or country make(Bought at Pawn Shop, 21 frets solid top, 1 volume, 2 tone, 5-way selector, Pickups are S/S/S, Body is unknown, but neck is birdseye maple, with maple fretboard with vintage yellow finish, guitar body is 3-tone sunburst, body style is strat style, bridge is a fender standard trem copy, the tuners are no name brand non-locking, neck is pretty thin compared with some other guitars I have, the people at the shop threw in a fender gig bag as a bonus

I play lots of Metal, Blues, and Classic Rock. I play through a Rogue MHT-1000. The sound is good, but on high output on any volume over 6, the pickups give off lots of feedback unless you stand far away. The bridge has a nice bright sound, but the neck could be better, it's a little dissapointing. I like the bridge pickup, but a fender gold tone would make it much better

Since I didnt get the guitar new, i'd have to say that the action was decent when i got it, except for a little buzz on the E string. The pickups were set up great, the routing was just fine, my high E tuner was a little rusty, but a little WD-40 fixed that up, and the nut needed replacing(Someone tried a bad fix-up job)

This guitar works great, after a standard maintenance job, I took this guitar to my gig and it worked great, I would say that this guitar is awfully durable seeing as my strap came off and it dropped to the ground and still stayed in tune, I would gig with a backup, but that's just my safety thing, I think it is a very good guitar

Never needed it

I've been playing 2 years and I think this guitar is great, I own a 1986 Vantage Avenger, a 1984 Ovation Celebrity Electric, a 1999 Jay Turser Les Paul and a 1996 Ibanez RG 470, and I think this guitar is better than some Fenders i've played, if this were stolen or lost i would buy another one, I like the action and neck, i dislike the neck pickup, I wish it had a better potted bridge pickup with less feedback, but that's about it

I don't reall know anythibg about the history on this guitar becayse I got it for Christmas a few months ago but here goes:Its got a volume control knob, two tone knobs, and a five way switch.I've got three single pickups as you might have guessed, and they seem to do the trick. Its got a string-thru-body I think. Non locking tuners, but still stays in tune preatty well even as hard as I play on it.

It does preatty well for the music I play but I really want to get a guitar with two humbuckers.I'm just using a Peavey Rage 158 amp and that's all the accesories I have. It sounds good though for being $80.00. I think with the right equipment and the right hands you can do just about whatever you want on this thing.

When I got this guitar for Christmas I'm preatty sure it was out of tune so I got it tuned. Pickups were fine. The metalfrets on the fret bouard had some dents in them, from the previous owner.

I think you could play a concert or two on this baby. I remember playing so hard on it at times actually trying to break the strings so I could change them amd it didn't happen until about a week later. The finish seems fine to me but it can scratch off fairly easily. Strap buttons haven't faled me yet. Ican depend on it. I would ALWAYS have a backup no matter what guitar I was using.

N/A, Thankfully nothing too serious has hppened to it.

I've been playing for about three months now, and the only other gear I own is my amp chord and picks(s). If something major would happen to my guitar I would try to find something cheep wtih two humbuckers (Epiphone SG). I have only really compared it to my cousins Kramer and of course his is better, I had absolutly no choice in what I got. I wish I had a Angus Young Signatured Gibson SG, but shit I don't have that kinda of money, I need a car.

I just picked this thing up from a pawn shop. I don't know what model it is or when it was made. It is a strat copy with a maple neck and fret board, vintage tremolo, and solid wood body with a veneer front and back. I don't know what kind of wood the body or veneer are but it is freekin' heavy. I assume the veneer was for a sunburst finish but mine is vintage blond. The semi-sealed non-locking tuners are smooth and hold a tune well. It has a medium neck (just the right size)with medium frets and a gloss finish. The fret work was done very well. It has a single ply white pickguard with eight screws. The five way switch is a little loose feeling but is quiet when switching. The neck tone control is scratchy when turned down under 2, a little contact cleaner would probably fix it. The other controls are quiet. The three single coil pickups are surprisingly quiet. I have no idea who made them.

I play surf tunes mostly, this guitar is perfect, clean and bright. I also play some blues and rock, again it fits the bill. It's not great for heavy metal. I have an early seventies Sano tube combo; 20watt, single gain, 12" speaker, spring reverb and tremolo. Almost any sound is possible with this guiar and amp, sweet mellow blues to bright twangy surf licks. Again, no metal.

This had been sitting in a pawn shop for who knows how long. It had the crustiest strings I've ever seen and was pretty dirty. It was setup so badly I think a kid got hold of a screw driver and turned every screw he could find. I took it home, tore it apart and cleaned it thoroughly. I put it back together, restrung it and adjusted the string height, pickup height, and intonation. I'm still fine tuning it to my needs but like I said it was way off when I got it. The finish on the neck and frets is excellent. This guitar fits like a glove. It plays so nice I could play it in my sleep. The vintage blond paint is dull and it is obvious they didn't do much sanding before painting. However, it stands up and looks good. Vintage blond is very forgiving, it hides the flaws and the chips don't show cause the wood it the same color. All the chrome is in great shape and the pickup covers and knobs are yellowed with age. I didn't want a guitar with a perfect finish so this guitar is perfect for me. I should give it a 10 because a guitar with character, to me, looks better than a perfect new guitar. I'm going to give it an 8 only because the paint isn't "perfect".

This guitar is a tank. I could use it to drive in fence posts all day then gig with it at night without having to retune. This guitar will last forever, I may have to repaint it in the future but the hardware is here to stay. I would replace the scratchy neck tone pot before gigging with it. I never play with the tone down that far but better safe than sorry.

I got a bunch of Christmas money and wanted a "Strat". I was planning to buy a Kramer Focus 111s which would have cost me about $140 after paying for shipping and buying white plastic parts to replace the black. I decided to check some pawn shops to see what I could find for that price. After quite a few shops I was getting discouraged. The only guitars in that price range were garbage; light weight plywood bodies, sharp unfinished frets, floppy bridges, stiff tuners, weak stail pickups and bad finishes. I could go on but you get the point. Mine had a $160 price tag on it. It stood out because it has a maple fret board, which I prefer. Vintage blond is also my favorite color for a strat. I was surprised when I picked it up and it weighed as much or more than guitars costing five times as much. I plugged it in and played. It sounded horible because of the crusty strings and BAD setup but felt good and all the knobs and switches worked. I got the guy to throw in a new set of strings then beat him down to $112. I got it home and spent a couple hours cleaning and setting it up. It was missing the wammy bar which I bought for $2 at my local friendly guitar shop. I plugged it into my tube amp and was blown away. This thing sounds and plays better than any I've ever played. I'm still trying to find out how I got this thing so cheap. I love this guitar. I would definately try to replace it if it were stolen but would have to spend at least $400, there is no way I could play a Squire now.

this is one of the first guitars i ever got... i got it through finger hut, in 1990, and it has been working ever since. it has a solid body....no ply wood on this one, the neck is a little fat and has 22 fret's.. with clear finish... three single pick ups...and a one way whammy bar,
it has a five way pick up switch, and one volume, and tone controll.. it had a sun burst finish, but after several years, it has been repainted, now it is purple....

i play rock, and punk, and it (guitar) has held up through all kinds of stuff... i play through a fender M-80 combo amp, with speaker cabinet. it is a little noisy on the top end volume, but it has a full sound, and alot of sustain..it sounds great on clean, or dist. the only problem really was about on the 17th fret on the E and A string, it was a little dead

when i got it the action was a little high, but i dropped it down, the pick ups are very hot, and i have had no problems with them, the five way switch is a little loose, and cuts out, but, i just tap it a little, and it's good to go, the ground was a little screwie, but i taped it up... good as new..

like i've said, it has stood up to me playing, and dropping it for 11 years, and every thing is still holding up. the finish was very hard, and took a sevear beating over the years, it was still good when i refinished it, i just got tired of the color...the strap buttons are solid, and they never, slipped, or stripped.. of the three guitars i have, i would say this one is the best, on the dependableity scale, it is a solid guitar, and has not let me down yet. i have played this guitar, as my only guitar for close to 8 years, and it never let me down.

i don't know about customer support, never had problems...

i have been playing for about 17 years, but this was and is one of the best, guitars i have had, or played. if it was stolen, i would not get another one, because in my mind no other could compare.. i love the durability of it, and it is rock solid, i have played an a squire 2, and this baby blew it away!!!!!!!

Year unknown, 22 frets, S/S/S pickups, tremolo. Maple neck with birdseye maple fretboard. Body looks to be ash, and is heavy as solid ash, but it's really dense plywood, probably with an ash top. 3 tone sunburst, with decent silky finish on back of neck. My friend bought cheap at flea-market as a factory reject, because it was supposed to have a gloss finish on back of neck, but it never got applied. Non-locking tuners, medium neck profile, vintage trem. Average features for a strat, except everything was lowest possible quality--if it was standard features with good hardware, it would have been an 8. Constantly going out of tune, at both tuners and trem. 5-position blade was loose, and the pots for tone and volume were dirty or rusting.

Worst-sounding guitar I ever played. Previous guitars had been Fender Mex strat, "Effector", Gibson ES335-S chambered solidbody, which had broken its headstock and so I was borrowing this for a while until I could get a new electric. Since, I've had a Peavey Generation 2 amd now an Anderson Hollow Drop-top custom-order strat. At the time I was running it through a Sunn Model T head and custom speaker cab. This guiar sounded thin and lifeless...no warmth or sustain to speak of. The pickups were noisy, lacked sparkle, and quacked like a rabbid field-mouse in combo positions (i.e., not at all). Clean tones were sterile and overdrive was harsh (not the best amp for overdrive, given). Even the infamous "Effector" at least had a hot, smooth overdrive, especially with the on-board distortion switched on. The effector was a little worse in all other aspects, but at least sounded a little better. My '96 Fender Mexican strat sounded warm and resonant, and costs the same amount new.

Action was high and stayed high, even with saddle-height adjusted. Strings, though light, refused to bend (think Peavey Predator). Neck was not a tight fit to the body, and the guitar itself was too heavy and lacked balance. Controls were loose and rusting, as remarked above. Minor finish errors, not counting the factory error which left the neck UNFINISHED--no silky oil or even cheap gloss. Some monor fret buzz. An unweildy and poor guitar, even by Fneder Mex strat standards. Unweildy compared to most low-end strats.

It was rusting just from bedroom use, the blade switch was loose, the pots were contaminated, jack was loose, and I was afriad the tuners would break if I even bumped them. Still better than my Gibson due to the broken headstock. At least the effector was durable (so so so sad when an EFFECTOR can even be compared to another guitar, much less deemed superior).

This sums it up--in all respects equal to a Peavey Predator, except a Peavey Predator is more playable. That's as bad a review as anyone can ever give a guitar, I think. Go for a Fender import for a backup guitar or beginning guitar...some of those can even be later modified to good intermediate or performance guitars. This lacks the potential even for that.

This was bought through Fingerhut by my fiancee so I could mellow out.
It was packaged with a black plastic amp (5 watter by 'Harmony')actually SCREAMED and I sometimes still use it as a PRE AMP/FUZZ BOX.

The Strat o Copy (as I call it) was made by a good man that day.
I did not know the body is a lamenation product. Nor did I know that the NUT is plastic or that the Pick ups were actually Legos with Radio Shack guts.


I have yet to find a machine that performs as well as this girl without costing an arm AND A leg. The only improvment I will make (after reading the other reviews) is to replace the Nut with bone and getting some Locking tuners.

This StratoCopy sings. It is quiet. The pick ups are HIGH output and I am very glad the ZOOM 2020 floor F/X pedal I use work so well with it and the GTX-100 Crate w/ Celestrian speaker amp.

THIS IS NO LIE. Got a friend who just got a Squier (strat o copy) from Musician's Friend. Minwe sounds better and his CANNOT EVEN GET CLOSE TO THE ACTION LEVEL MINE CAN . And Baby, my action is so low, you FLY over the frets.

I wish my POTS were cleaner. Takes some back and forth rotation before playing so you don't 'go static" or 'quiet'
But others have the same problem. What are ya gonna do?

Never needed it.

I am 45 and been playing ART NOISE since 1970

If it was stolen, would I replace it? Sure. But I would weep.

Made in Taiwan, with 22 frets and an alder body. One volume, two tones, 5-way pickup selector, three single-coil pickups. Stock, passive pickups. Maple neck with transparent finish. Vintage tremelo bridge. Non-locking tuners. 25.5" maqle neck/fingerboard.

This guitar is good for everything I play (jazz, country, metal, blues, rock). I play it through a Peavey Rage and two Ibanez pedals (a Soundtank Phaser and Tonelock DE-7 Delay). The pickups have good, traditonal Strat tone. Of course, they're very noisy, especially in the neck/middle and bridge/middle positions. The neck sounds bright, but also full (very bell-like). The neck pickup sounds jazzy with the treble strings, but riffs on the bass strings almost sound like a a picked Rickenbacker or Fender Presision bass. Of course the clean sounds are pretty good, but with full overdive, this bridge single-coil delivers overdrive with more crunch and detail than a humbucker.
And if you can only afford a practice amp, buy a Peavey Rage. I think the both the overdive and clean sounds are better than an entry-level two-channel Crate or Park. (Noisy, but pretty similar to both the Fender clean sound and the Marshall overdrive sound.)

The action is a little high. The middle pickup is too low, but the other pickups are high enough, and they are level.
The first fret has rough edges. The pickups selectors are noisy, but this is something you'll find on most single-coil guitar (even Fenders that cost more than $1000).

This guitar keeps tuning pretty well, considering I like I'm always doing wide bends and using lots of whammy bar. The hardware hasn't given me any problems yet (and I bought this guitar used almost two years ago). I haven't noticed any further finish wear. The strap buttons are good. Since most Strats (include this one) have badly-designed bridges, I wouldn't depend on this as my only guitar for gigs.

I've never asked for customer service. This is a used guitar, so Harmony definitely wouldn't help me. If I had to spend more than $50 dollars on repairs, I think it would be better to use my money on a new guitar from Warmoth parts, or factory-direct from Carvin.

I've been playing guitar for ten years. Even though I have three other guitars (Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Epiphone SG Special, and Guild Burnside), this Harmony Strat sounds and plays the best. If this was stolen, I'd buy a mid-priced Strat. I don't think I'll ever find a better budget guitar, and besides, after ten years of playing, I deserve to have a guitar with higher quality and some custom features.
I like the high action because it strengthens my lead guitar chops. And besides, I like to play lap-style slide riffs on my guitar (I tune to E major), so my action has to be high. The last owner of this guitar flipped over the bridge saddles, and set up the bridge to bend UP as well as down, two features that help me play like Jeff Beck. Bar-dives are only three-and-a-half steps, which is a good compromise between metal mania and reasonable tuning stability.
I wish this guitar had 22 frets. I would prefer 24 frets (this is an option on Warmoth necks), but then the neck pickup would be closer to the bridge, which would lessen the high contrast between the neck and bridge pickup sounds. After years of trying Strat guitars, I've finally found one with a good alder body. (By the way, if you want a Fender guitar with an alder body, you'll probably have to spend more than $1000.) If the body of my next Strat doesn't sound as good as this one, I might replace it with this one.