Harmony H-65 Model Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1959), made in Chicago, serial # 86H65, natural lacquer finish, laminated maple body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.
The blonde H-65 is one of Harmony's less celebrated instruments but nonetheless a solid player with a great sounding pickup. This unit is known by its Gibson stock number as the P-13; it was actually the immediate predecessor to the famous P-90. Gibson only used the unit on their own instruments fairly briefly in the just pre-WWII period, but sold large quantities of them to Harmony up into the late 1950s. These were used on the Chicago company's better grade archtop guitars, including this high/midline H-65.
The H-65 is a fairly conventional single cutaway, full depth archtop with a very 1950s vibe. The body is laminated maple, multibound in celluloid on the top and single bound on the back. The neck is fairly chunky but slimmer than many earlier Harmonys, made of a single piece of maple with a bound, block inlaid rosewood fingerboard. The then-new adjustable truss rod is fitted, a big step forward for Harmony as the 60s approached! The headstock is faced in rosewood and has an inlaid Harmony logo and Fleur-de-Lys design.
The nickel-plated P-13 with adjustable poles is mounted in a tortoise celluloid ring wired to conventional tone and volume controls. The bridge is Harmony's standard adjustable rosewood piece, the lattice tailpiece is a German-made unit the company used quite a bit at the time. This is a cool and fun guitar, a very playable and good sounding if not particularly versatile 1950s Chicago creation.
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 3/16 in. (41.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 in. (610 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar is cosmetically pretty clean but has some old repairs and parts substitutions. The finish does not show too much wear, just some light checking overall and random dings and dents. There is a conspicuous heel crack repair, probably the result of a either a neck reset or the large strap button installed straight through the center. This is solidly but visibly sealed up with some sloppy touch up on the treble side. The back has a bit of touched-up finish from a binding repair on the curve of the bass side lower bout.
The all-important pickup remains original, as are the bridge and tailpiece. The knobs are older radio-style pieces but not a type used on this model and the tuners are Japanese strips from the '70s. The pickguard is long gone. The original frets are in good shape with minimal wear and the instrument plays very well (at least for a Harmony) with a good chunky sound. It lives in a later HSC. Very Good + Condition.
