Harmony H78 that bears "Harmony By Heath" on the headstock.

Harmony was the maker of  many guitars that were labeled with another company's logo.
Sears used the name Silvertone on both Harmony made and Danelectro made guitars.
Truetone, Airline, Heath and dozons of other names were placed on Harmony guitars.

Why was this?

Harmony was a "jobber" guitar maker. They made and marketed their own guitars. They also actively sought out anyone who sold enough guitars to warrant having their own name brand, such as Sears.
Harmony was simply the best at supplying hundreds of thousands of guitars per year to a mass market.
They even produced a model of guitar that were marked with the name "Fender" at one time.

What is Harmony "By Heath"?

Thanks to many emails that all agreed (imagine that!), these guitars were part of a guitar/amplifier kit called a Heathkit. Since Harmony was THE jobber guitar maker, it is no wonder the Heath company chose Harmony for the guitar part of their kit!

Technical Tip

When giving your guitar a "tune up", set the adjustment on the pole pieces (set screws) in the pickups. Lengthen each one, one at a time and test while you go. Turn your amp up to a reasonable volume and twang the string as hard as you can without breaking the string. Adjust out...twang.....adjust out .....twang. Keep this up until the pickup overloads and "craps out". When you accomplish this screw in a little bit......twang.....screw in.....twang.....until it sounds good and loud without "crapping out". In this way you find the most efficient signal strength adjustment. Do this on the same string on a different pickup. Get each pickup to have roughly the same volume. Go onto next string and.........Twang!

This is a Truetone model. Harmony manufactured guitars under many names. In fact, for a minimum order of 150 units, you could order them with any name you wanted on them! Truetone is just one of the names used by the various companies that ordered their guitars from Harmony. Harmony guitars have also bore the names of Silvertone and Fender (that's right, Leo's company) to name just two.

Bill wrote in to tell me that Truetone was the house brand of the Western Auto chain. They used the name on all their electronics (TV's, stereos, musical instruments and amplifiers). Western Auto is still in business, although not selling guitars anymore. Western Auto was a natural outlet for Harmony guitars since Western Auto is owned by .........You guessed it........................Sears!

It has the deluxe tailpiece. It also shows the major design flaw in the electronics, and that is the side mounting of the 1/4" jack. Typically this area shows stress cracks or outright wood splitting. After repairing, it is wise to relocate this jack to the face of the guitar.

Pre 1945 Harmony made for "Worco"

It seems to be a guitar based on the Harmony Model 1033-TS

Montgomery Ward Airline.....Made by Harmony

 1966 Airline H-72 made in the fall of 1966. It has Rowe pick-ups.
Owned by Chris Rickerhauser

Give this old timer a pickguard and you have a great example of this model!

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