I had both the Stella, and the Harmony in the early sixties. In 1969, just before I left for Veitnam,I bought a Harmony H-54 Rocket, tobacco sunburst And a H167 hollow body sunburst . And here it is all these years later and I still own and play my favorite guitars.
I just watched this video last night, and would like to comment. Hopefully, I can provide some helpful information. I have a long history with Made-in-Chicago vintage Harmony guitars. From the 1940s through the 1950s, my Dad owned a number of Harmony made guitars. One was branded "Supertone" sold through Sears, I believe. From 1961 to 1963 he had a Stella by Harmony H929. His was a 1961 vintage. It had a white plastic pickguard (scratchplate) screwed to the top of the guitar. That guitar was the first one I ever played. A few years later, Dad bought two more Harmony guitars. One was an archtop model called Archtone (model # H1213). I began to learn to play in earnest on that archtop in 1967. Then about a year later Dad bought for me an H19 Silhouette electric. I played the Silhouette quite a bit, but actually preferred playing the Folk and Folk Rock songs of the '60s on that archtop. As an adult, I've owned two Harmony guitars: a "Grand Concert" model H165 flat top, all solid mahogany body; and an H954 Broadway archtop guitar. I still have the Broadway, it has a date stamp of F-53, meaning it was made in the first half of 1953. This brings me to the subject of model/serial number stamps and date stamps in Harmony guitars. One stamp inside the body was a combined serial number and model number. For example, this stamp inside my Broadway (visible through the f-hole on the "bass" side of the guitar) reads "1286 H954." The latter part is of course the model number of the guitar. The "1286" portion is a production number, I believe. If I'm correct, then my guitar was the 1,286th unit of that guitar model produced in that year. And speaking of the year, the stamp (visible through the f-hole on the "treble" side) reads "F-53." There are two theories on what the "F" stands for, but I believe the simplest explanation is the most reasonable, namely, "First." I read an article years ago in which a former Harmony Guitar factory employee commented on how factory production went. There were two "production runs" each year, the first being the first half of the year, January through June. Then, after the Harmony company observed a July 4th holiday (our date of independence here in the USA), the year's second production run would begin. So an "F" in a date stamp indicated the "First" production run of the year, and an "S" signified the "Second" production run of the year. Of course, the double-digit number in the date stamp would indicate what year the guitar was made. In the case of my Broadway, 1953. (Incidentally, that is the year I was born.)
Soy un adicto a las parlor clásicas, tengo varias. Y esta es una de ellas. Su aspecto y sonido añejo envejecido me encanta. I’m lovint… lookool..gracias por compartir
How interesting. My Stella looks exactly like yours, and I use the Rock Slide, as well! I've installed a piezo pickup, nylon strings, and (craziest of all) a Tonewood Amp. While I do use it for slide sometimes, I've carefully filed my nut, bridge and frets so my action is perfectly low, and it is my instrument of choice for learning old jazz standards and playing around the house, which I can do for hours and hours each day, thanks to the nylon.
That’s awesome man. Glad to hear you’re having fun with your Stella. Hopefully I will start playing it more after I get it repaired. Do you know what year yours was made?
Hi there Kbald I have the same guitar, the H929. It has a nice woody tone to it. I have fitted a brass nut, and also I found a De Armond 260 sound hole pickup on ebay. You may know that the American De Armond company supplied the majority of guitar pick ups to the Harmony company. This guitar is one of many featured in the book "Harmony-The Peoples Guitar", by Ron Rothman. An excellent book, I bought mine on Amazon. The book features two H929's. Mine has the white pick guard, which was first fitted in 1961. The 1950's H929 has no pick guard. There is a label inside your H929. I can read some of the wording on it, so does this label have some connection with the Oscar Schmidt company?
Hey Robin, that’s awesome. I will have to give that book a read. So the label looks like it’s from a instrument retailer. It says ‘Bruno Means Security est 1834, Musical Instruments. There is also a stamp inside the body with the digits 2989H929. Now I’m not sure where my aunt got the guitar from but it must have been imported to Iceland rather than bought in America.
Not with a date but there is a stamp inside 2989H929. H929 would be the instrument series but it would be interesting to find out what the 2989 stands for.
