USED Harmony Montgomery Wards H51 8384 Archtop Guitar P13 Pickup w/Case
Early 1950's Auditorium size archtop hollowbody guitar featuring Spruce top, Maple back, sides and neck, single Gibson P-13 Pickup in Very Good Condition.
An excellent example of an early 1950's, American Made Archtop "Jazz Box" fully hollowbody electric guitar, with hardshell case.
Made by Harmony, in Chicago, this model was designated for Montgomery Wards Catalog/Distributions in the early 1950's
Tough to make out the actual year, but this is the Montgomery Wards 8384 model which is basically the same as the Harmony H51.
The Serial Number (which doesn't really mean anything in terms of dating the guitar) and the Model number stamp are clear inside the body.
The date stamp is no longer that visible... the only thing you can make out is the F that would represent "Fall" but the year can't be made out.
According to sources, the 8384 for Montgomery Wards was available 1951/52.
That all seems to check out with other appointments of the guitar.
This is a very cool, vibey hollowbody!
Featuring a Laminate Spruce Top, Laminate Maple back and Sides, Maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.
It's a nice Big neck profile too!
Please Read rest of the description...
Harmony supplied guitars for others, most notably under the Sears/Silvertone line and the Montgomery Wards catalog. They were all American made in Chicago.
The Montgomery Wards catalog was more popularized by the "Airline" name.
The Model stamp inside this guitar is actually H57, which in a few years time, became the "Roy Smeck" model of archtop from Harmony.
This, however, differs from the Roy Smeck with the body depth being a full depth of 3 1/2" (the Roy was a thinner 2 3/4") and most notably, the Roy was a Solid Wood guitar with an adjustable truss rod.
The H51 is Laminate with a non adjustable truss rod.
And... The Harmony branded H51 models feature a "Flame Maple" look to the back and sides, while this is plain.
That's purely cosmetic, as both are laminate.
There are several examples of this out in the wild - H51's being stamped H57 for the Wards Catalog.
This also features the Gibson P-13 single coil pickup, in the neck position and the most wonderful, glorious, Brown Bakelight Radio knobs for the Volume and Tone controls.
Gibson supplied Harmony with the P-13 pickups.
This Used guitar is in Very Good+ condition. If it weren't for the cosmetic wear of the past 70 odd years, it would be excellent.
The original machine heads have been changed (a couple of times) the originals are included.
It plays great and sounds fantastic - that P-13 is surprisingly chimey.
Because there is no adjustable truss rod, lighter strings would be best - it currently has lighter nickel wound electric strings on it.
Comes with a hardshell case.
