Harmony Rocket

[@SusanBishop555]

I got a red Harmony Rocket in1969 when I was 14. I kept it in great shape and my son has it now. 😊

[@Helm-w1q]

I've been rocking with my Rocket since 1968

[@mattfleming2287]

Whenever your videos come up, I get a smile on my face. A few minutes of sanity in this crazy world. Thanks!

[@ZitherBeast]

Same here. Love watching him bring these beautiful instruments back to life.

[@themikepadua]

SAME

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

Amen to that Matt.

[@howardmaryon]

Your comment about earthing the strings reminded me of when, as budding rockstars in 1965, my buddies and I had a band, of sorts. We had zero money so everything was borrowed or from junk shops. My amp was my dad’s Grundig tape recorder, connecting my single pickup Vox guitar to the microphone input. The other guitarist had a real amp, with. 10” speaker and valves and used to smell bad when it got hot. We knew nothing about earth loops or whatever, and one day when rehearsing the singer had his hand on the microphone and accidentally touched my hand. The shock I got (240volts) nearly knocked me over, and the singer was just the same. We carried on though.

[@TheLemonFox]

The Anchorman reference killed me. Great work as always Ted your entire presentation style and dry wit makes me very happy.

[@andrewpartington7274]

The issue with the middle position is because of the way the volume controls are wired. If you swap the in/out of the volume pots (ie the input goes in lug 2 and the output goes out lug 1, lug 3 is grounded) then the volumes should work independently and you won't have the issue of the signal going to ground when one of the volumes is off in the middle position.

[@JoJo-yp7kw]

Depends whether it was wired to be a potentiometer or a rheostat. That looks like they were meant to be rheostats. When wired as a potentiometer the signal is put across it, the two outer terminals, one being ground. The output signal is derived from the wiper (middle terminal) and the ground. It is a percentage of the original signal, depending where the wiper is. A rheostat does not go across the signal like that. It goes in the line of the signal lead adding resistance to that path, reducing it that way. The third terminal would not be connected to anything in that case, especially not the ground.

[@beenaplumber8379]

Now I wanna dig out my '65 Bobkat and see how that's wired - pot or rheostat. (It's got the silver foils.) I haven't played it in decades, and I haven't had the pickguard off since the 1980s. I love these Harmony videos. Edit: I just opened it up and found the tone pots have one tab open and connected to nothing, and the volume pots have the end tabs bent over to the body of the pot, but I can't see any solder there anywhere. My eyes aren't so good anymore though. There's no grounding wire to the tailpiece, and no hole drilled for one, so it's sure easy to open up! But of course it has always had a lot of hum and a muddy tone. The wiring is very neat and solid, still no crackling pots after all these years!

[@dan0rjones]

@@beenaplumber8379 My 64 Rocket (H59) was exactly the same when I pulled it from my grandmother's attic. Neck pickup perfectly fine, middle pickup was mysteriously absent and bridge pickup sounding like the strings are in a different room. I ended up replacing the pickups with a set pulled from, presumably, a 3 pickup bobkat as they were of the riveted variety. I wonder if it's just an issue with how the bridge pickups were being wound.

[@dughuff8825]

You'd definitely want one of the legs grounded on a guitar volume pot - never be able to shut the amp up completely otherwise 😊

[@danielross868]

absolutely correct......

[@popplace4]

Love those old Harmony/Sears guitars, your videos on Sunday are a real treat, thanks Mr. Ted

[@beenaplumber8379]

The first electric I bought was a used 1965 Silvertone/Harmony Rocket in 1982 for ~$60. The neck was like a baseball bat, which I love because I have huge hands and fingers, but it only had 20 frets. It had a kinda muddy tone too, but it was mine, and I loved it!

[@gigmandrew8975]

My first guitar when I was 15 was a Harmony solid body with two gold foil pickups. It came with flat wound strings. Had a killer sound.

[@FingerinUrDaughter]

>flatwound strings you mean it sounded like muddled horse shit, with virtually no mids or high end to speak of.

[@jefffixesit60]

I recently repaired a '72 Harmony H27 bass, which had been used to trip and catch an inebriated dance partner. Same switch gear and pots, same coiled steel shielding and twisted control layout, but this one had a truss rod and both pickups worked. Mahogany finish was dark but intact, and the cellulose binding was amber, cracked and loose all over. I got lucky, all the wood was all there, so creative caul making and clamping brought the broken edges back into alignment. Plays really nicely again, still looks like a road worn relic, and the repairs are not obvious. I'd buy it, if the owner ever wanted to sell it 😊

[@hankgesmag9650]

That "neck warmer" gave me a great idea for my 12-string acoustic that I have had since 1965! It needs something like that...

[@mgclark46]

Ted gets an Indian name...: "Works-in-Socks".. lol

[@awalk56]

Good video. I bought a Kay (Buck Reeder) thin line, single pickup at an auction years ago for a few bucks. Cleaned up and adjusted, and plays well. Best I could date it via Google Images, 1957.

[@peterjames2580]

First high school band I saw in 62' "from the city" had these and I loved them ever since!!!

[@OtherWorldExplorers]

When you were describing the grounding situation on the last pot. I couldn't help but think about the movie Jaws. "This was no metal fatigue it was a shark attack! "

[@alphamegaman8847]

@3:18 The Appropriately named "F Hole"🤬😁 I have a 1950'a Harmony waiting for some TLC.🥰 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTENT!!. 👍 Mike in San Diego.🌞🎸🚀🖖

[@MajorRoadAhead]

I have a Harmony H59 Rocket, now fitted with a Bigsby tremolo. I think that the tremolo was retro fitted by a previous owner. I am not sure if Bigsby trems were fitted at the Harmony factory. The H59 is fitted with triple pickups, with 6 control knobs. It is very eye catching and has a lovely tone, even without the electrics being plugged in. I can recommend a great book on the subject of The Harmony company. The book is "Harmony, The People's Guitar". The author is Ron Rothman, and I can recommend it. Lots of great pictures and a history of the company. I think I bought my copy on Amazon.

[@gryfandjane]

Well, there was a memory. Back in the mid-1960s I took lessons on a solid-body Harmony that had one of those pickups. Fun times.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

On a Gibson if you have both pickups on and turn down the bridge, you also turn down the neck. They are not independent. On a Rickenbacker or Jazz bass turning down one doesn’t turn off both. It’s the way the volume pots are wired. On a Gibson the wiper goes to the output. So turning one pickup all the way turns down the output. On a Rick the wiper connects to the pickup. So you are only turning down the pickups, not the output. The bridge pickup probably has a break in the wire. You’ll still get sound due to capacitive coupling. But it’s thin and weak.

[@jeffscarff1655]

Parasitic capacitance was my first thought as well. An old 64 Mustang came in the shop with a wire broken and hanging out, but still showed resistance on the meter. Slight output, but, alas, really broken.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

@@jeffscarff1655 not parasitic... the coil has a break in it. but each turn couples to the next one capacitively. Ío you still get a sound, but it's like it's passing though a capacitor, so all the low end is rolled off.

[@Da5idc]

Please ask KZbin to introduce a three thumbs up button - one doesn't allow nearly enough praise 😊👍🎉🌟😊

[@IanDunbar1]

Australian rocker Courtney Barnett occasionally plays a lefty red burst Rocket (although she usually plays a Tele). They do seem to be catching on as a kind-of budget vintage choice

[@paulheartsongs]

Thank you, Ted 😊

[@picksalot1]

Switching the pickup locations so the weak Bridge pickup is then in the Neck location where the wider string oscillations produce a louder volume would probably balance the pickups better. But, with their outputs being so far apart, the results are hard to predict, and I've never used that type of pickup before. 🤷

[@joeferris5086]

Yep, Jaguars are 1megs and so are Telecaster Customs and Deluxes. That cunife wide range needs a 1 meg. I just built a Tele Custom and was worried it would be too bright with the 1 meg. I did a bunch of research and almost bought 500's but eventually just decided to do it stock and see how it turns out. I'm really glad I went with the 1 meg. It is bright but its nothing you can't trim off and it sounds great. Lindy Fralin will rewind your pickups for a good price. He did my 65 jaguar pickup and killed it.

[@jetphone1974]

Loved the Better Call Saul ending. "Sometimes the guitar wins".

[@scottdunbar4898]

Ironically, "Gnihsilop" was my nickname in high school. Thanks for the flashback, old chum.

[@michaeld.mcclish]

Early Rolling Stones videos shows Keith Richards using a Harmony Rocket, also Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood's brother used an H22 bass for "I'm a Man" in the video. I have a 65 H22 bass, which is the same body.

[@Doh1954]

Oh man I would have loved that Harmony when I was a lad. I had a Broadway of the same vintage with a D"Armond. Like playing a garden rake. Great video.

[@mattrogers1946]

I have an H-54 in Redburst from1966! The pickups are magic!

[@shadowofaman69]

Hey look at that, it's my favorite part of the weekend again!

[@andyt5559]

mine too! Time to watch the MASTER, at work!

[@AlecBoyd]

Fender used the 1 meg pot for Jazzmasters and Jaguars from their debut and until CBS.

[@JohnSmith-gu6ii]

That sex panther reference had me rolling 😂

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

Same!!

[@billallen1594]

Classic 😂

[@bentfishbowl3945]

Observation about pot values: the parallel combination is what loads the pickups at high frequencies where it matters: 1M||250k is like having two 360k pots in terms of "trebliness". The all over the place readings with the meter would indicate some problem with the winding, but sometimes it just got demagnetized, and that's something you can get into with much less of an investment than winding!

[@mikedavis3841]

Cool Harmony.👍

[@asterisk606]

You say "eh" about pickup winding, but there are some CNC winders out there that wouldn't be much trouble to set up. The "eh" part for me would be the endless loop of questions, requests, and "purism" from customers if they needed a new pickup. It would be a constant hunt for vintage "correct" pickup parts.

[@mnemonik61]

Seriously, do you REALLY want to spend days searching hard copy mfr's catalogs for "46 AWG solid copper enamel coated coil wire" only for the customer to say "Yeah, but the enamel is the wrong color!" 😂

[@Gumbo_Froehn]

...as always, excellent!...

[@Bloodray19]

for some reason every time that you measure relief, I get that metallic taste in my mouth, cause in my childhood, the doctors used to use these steel spatulas to examine your throat. Of course they were disinfected after that. Those filler gauges just remind me so much of those spatulas, that I can't help but feel the taste

[@mr.b.5589]

I used to have a 62h...the crazy lady has it now. I miss it.

[@crackityjones777]

would love to meet the '27' club, not those musicians who died tragically at that age but the bunch of weirdos who always dislike these videos as soon as they're released.

[@Satchmoeddie]

When it's too rainy and cold outside for a good ol' game of Lawn Darts, and your mom has hidden away your chemistry set due to the noxious odors it emits while it is burning holes into her antique dining room table. My favorite 50s toy is the Atomic Science one that came with genuinely dangerous radioactive materials inside of it. My mom taught guitar, and my first guitar was a very decent Jap tenor ukulele, then a Gibson LGO, then a Gibson Melodymaker. Then I got a paper route and bought myself a Les Paul Standard and a Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp. I still have them all.

[@timothycormier3494]

Hahahahahha I literally just watched Ron burgundy this morning and that sex panther comment had me howling!!

[@ThomasReilly-g8l]

Gnihsilop! Solid gold!

[@OpenWoodShop]

It takes skill to unpolish frets.

[@josephsdsu1]

I puzzled over that lovely word for too long - even searching for "genihishlap" and various other potentially Teutonic, Nordic, and/or Nederlanderesque orthographies - figuring it was a word for "polishing" I didn't know. All to no avail. Then I saw your post, googled your spelling, and only one result came up: a pdf of a catalogue for Abrasive Compounds & Polishing Tools. So, dutifully, I did a document search, and the result (weirdly) kept coming up for "Polishing." Why that search worked, I don't know. But seeing it highlighted on my Adobe Acrobat - specifically the strange initial syllable, "Gnih" - finally blew the cobwebs from my mind. What was it William Blake wrote in his Proverbs of Hell? "The road to the palace of wisdom is long, and it's paved with a bunch of damned foolishness undertaken by a damned fool, and by the time the fool's got the road all nice and paved, he's too damned tired to go inside, so he just sits on the curb, marvels at the long road behind him, and lies down for a spot of rest."

[@dannoall8427]

It must be said three times. Just don't do that while looking in a mirror.

[@atomdent]

Extra credit this week, for working in an anchorman reference!!Thanks Ted!

[@metronommie]

I knew something was wrong when those old pickups read 11k lol

[@copperaudio9664]

Nice harness construction Ted! 😎👍

[@smae433]

Thanks, Ted. Your language skills are enivid.

[@RogueA.I.]

Old school cool!

[@iskandertime747]

"It's got chunks of real panther in it!"

[@davepowell9708]

Great video as always love that you're doing all the work in white socks

[@bjornlarsson7624]

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever” - I mean WOW! soo deep, soo true - love it :)

[@TeleCaster66]

I started with a Harmony Meteor when I was fourteen back in 1980, I quickly moved to a Fender however for obvious reasons.

[@Jonathan_Doe_]

Reason it basically mutes when both pick ups are selected is due to the combination of the pick ups in parallel making it the equivalent of one, really weak pick up. (11k+2.3k=1.9k).

[@dughuff8825]

That's kind of true, but due to the different positions of the two pickups they put out a slightly different signal, so it tends to 'add' rather than just subtract.

[@thewizardmountain]

Great video as always.... but for those who feel it's just not complete as it stands... have this. POLISHING, POLISHING, POLISHING.

[@End-Putler4eva]

Ted, yet another great video. Love that string trick on the cable jack! I'd love to see a behind the scenes on how to make one. All the best, Dan in Nepean, ON

[@jltrem]

Curtis Novak makes DeArmond S-Grille pickups, but I'm guessing Ted is well aware of that.

[@rabbithowls71]

Fender also uses 1 meg vol and 500k tone for the vintage noiseless singles.

[@southerndandy4910]

Best way to enjoy a lazy Sunday.

[@NinerFourWhiskey]

I've seen that wiring scheme before - where the wiper of the volume control is connected to ground, and the pickup to the top-leg. It just loads the pickup signal with a variable R to ground. It is a bad scheme, but it does function. The sound gets dramatically darker as the volume is reduced. Bummer on the bridge p'up

[@telecasterbear]

Golly Ted, those cupcake knobs sure are swell!

[@guitarfreak521]

I almost had a 1956 Harmony Rocket when I was in college. I was a screamer and I could have picked it up for only $300 USD. Too bad I was in college and didn't have the money. One of my life's regrets.

[@michaelalfonso1070]

I love your posts and learn a lot! I have a Harmony H74 (literally a cross between a Gibson 335 and. Fender Thinline), with a Bigbsy Tremolo on it. I installed flat wound strings on it and it has a sweet sound, (acoustically and plugged in). Acoustically doesn’t sound like a $5 guitar. It is the guitar that is next to my bed; my go to guitar at home. Love the Bigbsy too!

[@michaelalfonso1070]

Forgot to mention I fell into guitar repair because I’ve been playing in church since 1976, never played for money. So I always buy used guitars and learned to repair them for church use. I am gearing up to rewind pickups, (I don’t think anyone one does it here in Hawaii), for my dead pickups. I don’t want to do custom winds, because if the customer doesn’t like it and wants their money back.

[@adobedoug2564]

Thanks for playing them for us Ted!

[@bolyami1975]

Mr Woodford, have you ever been tasked with swapping the steel reinforcing beam with a functioning truss rod? Just curious

[@whitec59]

I love having both volumes high and close to the right hand. Easier to adjust mid playing. You rarely need to adjust tone mid song

[@ModernVintageFilm]

Yes!! Made my day.

[@PhoenixRising2040]

"WELL hey there gang"... what the frog snacks man.... Mandela effect? Where's the real Ted that leaves out the "well" lol 😅🤨

[@remurdereht]

Depending on what magnets were used in the pickup, they might have lost some of their magnetic characteristics over time. Sometimes it's possible to "recharge" them by running a permanent magnet over them (paying attention to polarity). Not a guaranteed fix, but free and easy to try.

[@davidswartz2420]

Wonderful Video. Richards played one with the Stones. Wyman played the Bass version.

[@ixis99]

Wyman played a Framus bass actually. Ronnie Laine of the Small Faces did play a Harmony bass as did Muff Winwood however.

[@davidswartz2420]

@@ixis99 you are right of course

[@rankenfile]

Dang. Not every day will be the best day. Love your craft.

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

Unique tone Through an old Champ I would bet real money it sounds like a freight train.

[@TheRamsberg]

There's so many dastardly ways to wire a two pickup harness, it's wild that the manufacturers have tried to send out examples of all variables there of!

[@daviswall3319]

Love these instruments! I have an old Bobcat. I forget if that’s Silvertone or Harmony. It’s been in storage for years. Now I’m inspired to break er back out. Love the vids bro!!

[@rickbaker4571]

Back to the salt mine... Ted said so....

[@f1s2hg3]

Great show great 👍

[@LeftyPem]

I’ve done repairs on a red Holiday branded one of these, with the red finish and matching hardware specs. The super short scale on a narrow neck, hollow body and those pickups make for an incredible jazz box if you put 12s on it! Wish these, or even the short lived reissue, had been made available left handed. Love the look and feel of them.

[@jjbjjb6547]

So , will you send that pick up out to someone to have it repaired? Or, does it just go back to the customer to decide??

[@MikeGervasi]

Well that would explain why having both pickups selected kills the output of both. You have a solid beam of metal named "Ted" and can say Polishing backwards. Never cease to amaze me ;)

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Very killer Guitar

[@mattrogers1946]

Blues machine!

[@mikep3043]

Socks and gnihsilop… together at last.

[@yunowot]

nice to see ted finally caved into the safety geeks with his ppe safety foot wear choice. e.g. 12:06

[@stevehead365]

Kevlar socks?

[@CastlesMadeOf...]

Would have been interesting to hear the pickups swapped over. Weaker one in the neck and neck in the bridge. That neck pickup did sound lush 👍

[@tonybrown1634]

Hello I have that exact guitar it was my father n laws he gave it to me. My question is did the original pick guard come with harmony on it and can I get one? The one I have is aftermarket and I would like the original looking one. It was broken when it was gifted to me. Thanks Tony.

[@АндрейЧмыхалов-ф8ц]

Such a nice video, thanks😊

[@antonymitchell3385]

Putting my electronics hat on, I imagine the missing ground lug and high pot values on the volume suggest using it as a simple variable resistor, rather than using the potential divider effect to control the volume.

[@kbirridia]

What a coincidence, your neck heater is named Ted too!

[@AROSFC]

You should make Twoodfrd white socks merch....😁. Tks for the video.

[@brettgl21]

Damnit Ted! hahaha I always enjoy your videos.

[@tadamong]

I have the same model, a single-pickup model. I'd be keen to learn more about the "neck warmer" as mine's neck has the same relief issue.

[@galeng73]

I'll edit this if I need to. I am watching it now, but I want to mention that there's another version of this - and I have one. This particular one has three pickups that can only be selected individually or all of them at once. I suppose a more complicated switch wouldn't work - but you can also use a volume knob to eliminate or blend the pickups together. Did I say 'knob'? Ha! It has all the knobs! Seriously, it has like six knobs and a chicken head selector switch. I don't think I paid much for it, and it did need a little work. I'd lusted after one as a kid but couldn't afford one. I lusted after it because of the number of knobs and pickups. So, there's a nostalgia tax but I don't think I spent more than a grand (USD) on it. Another few hundred to the luthier and all was good with the world. Heck, I don't think it was even that much that went to the luthier. I suspect the owner of this guitar has it for nostalgia reasons and isn't too concerned with how much it costs. It's not a halo guitar and doesn't sell like one in the collectible guitar market. Hmm... I hope I'm not stepping on any toes with this long comment. I didn't mean to make a novella, but some of these guitars bring me back or remind me that I already own one. (I have an unhealthy number of guitars and associated gear.)

[@101Volts]

Kay were similar. They had 1, 2, and 3 pickup versions of numerous models. Each one would have a tone and volume knob for each pickup, and the 3 pup versions had an "all on" feature where you'd have to turn the middle volume off to have just those 2 on. Kay also didn't use the same pickups as Harmony - some people just mix up Kay's history, saying that they used DeArmond and/or Gibson P13 pups, when there's no certain evidence for it. Their "P13s" aren't P13s, they're Kay's Speed Bump Pups, which are completely different on the inside. They just resemble some of the P13s, specifically one or two types without pole pieces.

[@galeng73]

@@101Volts I remember Kay. In fact, I have a K2 (I think that's what it's called). It looks like an SG, kind of sort of... Mostly... I'm not sure how long ago, but some company was offering a *new* Kay guitar, a remake of some older version with Kay on the headstock. I seriously need a 12 step program for gear addiction. In my defense, I do play a great deal, but I have more gear than I'll ever need and not all of the guitars in my collection are valued collector pieces.

[@indianaslim4971]

I owned a 59 three pickup model I bought for $75 with only one pickup working, checked the 1-2-3-ALL switch and the lugs were bent, straightened them and worked perfect. Played it a couple of years and sold it for $300.

[@galeng73]

@@indianaslim4971 That's a pretty good profit margin. Depending on when this was, that was also a pretty good profit. $225's worth of profit ain't what it used to be.

[@indianaslim4971]

@@galeng73 Yeah, it was the mid to late 80's, I didn't buy it to flip but someone offered me $300 and so I sold it, I'm pretty sure that it sold for $700 at auction 2-3 years later, not 100% because it was pictures but it sure looked like mine and the auction was based out of Dallas, which is where I was living at the time.

[@jimoverly5386]

I have a small collection of harmony guitars, and, owned 2 of these, in the late 50s. Have the 3 rockets, a stratotone, h1213, broadway, and, a h 1260. Chose these, over gibson and fender

[@elliotttrent9693]

Hey Ted, have you re magnetising them? You still get the same resistance off a demagnetised pickup, I've had it before where ive wound some up and forgotten to add the magnet magic,

[@worldfamouslanglois4805]

I had the red one with the wammy bar! what a great ride

[@LeftyPem]

Sad that the pickup has gone microphonic. They’re so great when they’re functional. One of my favorite tones.

[@mattrogers1946]

Absolutely!

[@beenaplumber8379]

Do you know how the gold foils compare to the silver foils, tonewise? I have a 65 Bobkat with its stock silver foil pickups, and I've always thought they sounded muddy and uninteresting, with no edge. (That's why my 2nd electric was a Strat.) Every time Ted plays an old Harmony with Gold Foils (and I swear I heard him play one with silver foils) they sound very rich and full of lovely overtones.

[@cjhenry41]

Hey, I liked RC Cola

[@LEIF1313]

Hey Ted, did you try and check the inductance and compare both pickups? With coils checking both DCR and LCR is the way to go... resistance is futile if the inductance ain't there.

[@kkupsky6321]

Gnihsilop gnishilop is how you summon them. No I’m not typing it three times. I’m stupid not superstitious…

[@okamisamakun]

"Stings the nostrils, in a good way"

[@SonofTheMorningStar666]

👍 For the algorithm!

[@jp1parkin]

For the algorithm!

[@thealgorithm2841]

For the algorithm!

[@truthtorpedo99]

God bless her and all who sail on her

[@nickparnell4756]

Ted’s call to arms “For the ALGORITHM!”

[@JRMassie]

Hail to the algorithm!

[@phil36135]

Thanks for another great video!

[@jipes]

So sad for the pickup but hey nice job anyway. I happen to have actually a later model (1966 I think) with different pickups (The mustaches) it's really a very cool instrument and work well for jazzy and bluesy numbers