HARMONY GUITARS…I HATED THEM. What changed? - Cheap and awesome STELLA H-929 - Guitar Discoveries

#HarmonyGuitar #VintageHarmonyGuitar #SilvertoneGuitar
I admit it: I’m a recovering guitar snob! I grew up less than an hour away from Gibson’s legendary factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. So for everyone I knew as a young musician, playing a "real" guitar meant playing a Gibson.
Yet just down the road in Chicago, Harmony had two massive factories cranking out 350,000 guitars a year — more than all other guitar makers combined.
Harmony quality control was generally less rigorous, their sound was usually less refined, and their prices were almost always lower than comparable models from Gibson, Fender and Martin. The lower prices caused many beginners to learn on one of the Harmony-built brands: Harmony, Silvertone (sold by Sears), Airline (sold by Montgomery Ward), and Holiday (sold by Alden's).
Today, the "unrefined" sound of vintage Harmony guitars has experienced a major resurgence, especially true for specific acoustic models like parlor-style Stella guitars, the Harmony Sovereign, and electric models with DeArmond Gold Foil pickups.
I've become part of Harmony's resurgence, falling in love with the uniqueness of their sound, their cosmetic and functional design innovations, and their underdog status in the guitar pantheon.
In this video, I play my Stella H-929 from the late 50s and share my story as a recovering snob following my 12-step...er, 12-string program. LOL

Here are my favorite sources of info on Harmony guitars:

"Harmony, The People’s Guitar 1945-75” by Ron Rothman:
https://amzn.to/2xeGASn

Unofficial Harmony Database:
http://harmony.demont.net/
NOTE: Since the death of Francois DeMont, this site has been offline. However, you can see the most recent version via the Internet Archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200806133357/http://harmony.demont.net/

History of the Harmony company:
ChasingGuitars.com/harmony-hyphen-history

Robert Cassard shares guitars, gear and tips to make you a better musician.

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Hi, my name is Robert Cassard. I'm a lifelong guitar player, singer-songwriter, producer, and music fanatic. I create Guitar and Recording Discoveries videos with a simple goal: to make YOU a better, happier, more confident musician!

In 2018, after more than 40 years as a pro musician, I started sharing my experiences through easy-to-understand YouTube videos — giving you shortcuts to de-mystify playing, singing and recording.

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