Out Of Control Vintage Ep 5 - 1960’s Harmony Broadway

[@larryg.overton2951]

I liked this video, and did in fact “Like” it. I’m a Harmony guitars enthusiast. My Dad played guitar from his teens on, and from the 1940s through the 1960s, he played MiC (Made in Chicago) Harmony guitars. When I took up the guitar myself in 1967, I started on Dad’s Harmony Archtone H1213 (the same model Bob Dylan played about a decade before me). Fast forward to 3 years ago, I scored a Harmony Broadway H954. The date stamp is faded, but visible and still somewhat legible through the treble side f-hole: “F-53.” So mine was made in the first half of the 1953 production run. Yours is almost certainly a 60s vintage. It’s noticeably different from the '50s version in several features. 1) The fonts used for “Harmony” & “Broadway” on the headstock changed in the ‘60s. They’re similar, but different. 2) Also, on the headstock of yours, it reads “Steel reinforced neck.” In the ‘60s Harmony’s Auditorium sized archtops-including the Broadway-were advertised as having “Slim-Thin Steel Reinforced Necks.” The neck on my ’53 Broadway has no steel reinforcement; it’s just a thick chunk of maple. 3) The body is finished what the Harmony catalog described as “reddish mahogany with large warm yellow sunburst effect.” In the ‘50s, the body of the Broadway model was finished in a different color: predominantly black with a warm sunburst, with a faux spruce wood grain on the top and a faux flamed maple grain on the back. Speaking of wood, almost all of Chicago-era Harmony guitars were solid wood, not laminate. The wood generally used was birch, without much consideration to the beauty (or lack thereof) of the wood grains, since they covered the natural up with faux grain appearance (mahogany, spruce, flamed, etc.). The Broadway model was about midway up the ladder of Harmony’s archtop line. The entry level was the Archtone (what I learned on), followed by the Master, Monterey Leader, then the Broadway. In the 1965 Harmony catalog, the Broadway listed for $57.50. And speaking of the archtop models, at 7:13 in your video, you display a blonde Harmony with the caption “Same guitar in blonde.” That is *not* the same model. That blonde you pictured is a ‘50s vintage Archtone H1214, not a Broadway. The Archtone series (there were four, a tenor guitar and 3 identical except for color/faux grain) had painted on pin stripes instead of a bound body, as the Broadway had.

[@FIGGY65]

Hello Matt! Awesome video, and thanks for the history! Be safe, Shawn

[@caryboyd2181]

I'm getting one of those they rock. I have 2 National Duolians and a Gibson LG2 also. Cary in Tucson

[@DDEENY]

Love your playing.

[@sirstevio]

Ive just realised i have one, says Broadway on the head stock but nothing else. And unfortunately the neck is warped a bit. I’d love to use it for more than wall art though. It’s n nice

[@shageedawg]

its my understanding they were solid birch top back and sides.having personally restored 3 of them i can say they were not plywood.thats why they sound so good.my 1955 harmony palm beach is my best sounding slide guitar by far.only solid wood improves with age.anyways.cheers.enjoyed your playing.just thought id point out they are not plywood.birch top back and sides with poplar necks

[@felixvale2730]

Mine says pencrest on head stock and inlays look like guitar picks

[@jimoverly5386]

I have a 1940 broadway ( 4 dots on fretboard ), mint condition, and, plays as good, as any gibson or fender, for me.

[@MattWalshMusic]

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