GPOTD 07.15.14

[Kerouac]

Harmony H56 Roy Smeck 54-56

Here is a rare h56 Roy smeck harmony guitar, that sounds incredible acoustic or plugged in. Acoustically it has a nice vintage, tight sound that is awesome for blues. The birch( I am pretty sure) wood is not super resonant like a modern acoustic, so it is sweet for chunky, tight, and choppy riffs. All the beautiful overtones and resonance of a modern rosewood and spruce top acoustic, in my opinion have a hard time sounding like the legends. They all played birch guitars!
Electronically it is smoking hot with the original gibson p13 pickup, delivering some pretty sweet tone. If you don't know, harmony purchased some leftover stock when gibson switched to p90s( or something like that)
guitar has seen better days. It actually plays great, with a pretty straight neck and quite low action. This is not a slide guitar. But it has several issues. First it is missing the treble binding of the fretboard. This never really bothered me, but it does leave the fret ends a little sharp. Also there is a break in the wood at the f hole. It looks like someone tried to fix it somewhere in this guitars life. The finish is as expected, defiantly rough. The worst is under the bridge. The top has some deflection, but I have been playing this guitar for several years and it seems stable. My luthier told me there was a fixed strut inside. The electronics are a little scratchy, but work well.
Non original bridge.
not a perfect guitar for touring, but so sweet for around the house. This is a beautiful guitar despite some flaws. It is a joy to play

 

[Guitar Heel]

That'd look pretty awesome beside my Hollywood.

 

[Guitar Heel]

and if you were curious too...

 

[Gary Blanchard]

I have a soft spot for old Harmonies like that; I owned an old Harmony acoustic arch once and miss it. I'd love to have this one.

 

[Tig]

It better sound damned nice to make up for the fuglyness.

Huh, you aren't supposed to adjust the floating bridge with the strings at full tension?

 

[Coralkong]

I'm glad old Roy liked it, because I sure don't.

Maybe for $100, but somehow I doubt that's what they want for it.....

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

Cool guitar that won't be worth the asking price.

 

[jelloman]

I guess it's cool...kinda...

 

[Gorgon90]

You know, sometimes old, beaten up, worn out pieces of crap, really are just old, beaten up, worn out pieces of crap, and are not actually some mystical guitar infused with awesome levels of mojo by decades of (ab)use.

YMMV but I'm going with the former.

 

[CBHScott]

No.

 

[IamSeaDevil]

I'll shall name him cyclops. And I will yell his name "Cyclops" just before he sinks into the crushing black depths of the Pacific Ocean

 

[Modern Saint]

I would give it a try!

 

[nuke_diver]

Kind of retro cool

but no not for me

 

[VoidTerraFirma]

Uh….no.

 

[Stratguy]

I tend to think toward the future, instead of honoring the historical past. Because of that, I don't have must interest in relics of the past. I say that so people will know that I'm not knocking the guitar when I say that I would have no interest in it.

 

[Denverdave]

Meh.....

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Like-O-Meter

 

[Tralfaz]

Interesting old junky guitar.

The birch( I am pretty sure) wood is not super resonant like a modern acoustic, so it is sweet for chunky, tight, and choppy riffs.

In other words, it sounds dead.

 

[DFB]

Looks like a load of Smeck

 

[Hubert Stumblin]

Appearance-wise I dig the "tuxedo" look of it. But of course it would have to sound good.

 

[Flamencology]

Huh, you aren't supposed to adjust the floating bridge with the strings at full tension?

Correct.