Description
This is an H73 Roy Smeck guitar made by Harmony of Chicago in 1966 although it could be a late 1965 model based on the knobs, pickups and tailpiece. It is a hollowbody, double cutaway, polished opaque manderin red, bound, archtop with two single coil pickups and metal surrounds, raised, white pickguard, a laminated maple body, white knobs, a black plastic strap button at the top and a white one on the bottom, two f-holes, type W vibrato tailpeice, wide white celluloid binding on the body and neck, and an adjustable rosewood bridge. It is 100% original and still looks fine for an over sixty-five year old instrument. This H73 is in good condition. The neck is straight, the action is fast and the pickup seems to be as clear and potent as it has ever been. It still looks lovely, feels fantastic and sounds superb. Don’t miss your chance to get this classic!Description from VintageSilvertones.com
CONDITION:
This guitar is 100% original. It is in good condition. The Harmony logo on the head and the Roy Smeck logo on the body are missing. There are aout 3 lines of crazing above the bass side f-hole, one under the neck pickup and about two lines of crazing on the treble horn. There is some general wear to the finish onthe back. There is also some wear near the input jack and on the bottom of the guitar. The headstock has some wear on the edges. This guitar looks cool, plays beautifully and sounds great!
TUNERS:
The individual, opened-back, tuners with white plastic buttons are in good working condition. They turn smoothly and hold the tuning well.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
NECK:
The neck is in good shape. It’s a straight, bolt-on neck with circular, mother-of-pearl inlays on a rosewood fretboard, 20 frets, and a 24″ scale. There is a small bit of playing wear on the first three frets. The headstock is missing the “Harmony” logo although you can see where it once was and there is some wear around the edges. The action is fast. The neck is kept straight with Harmony’s “Torque Lok” rod. The neck and the frets feel fantastic under your fingers. Description from VintageSilvertones.com
PICKUPS:
It has two mustache, single coil gold foil pickups. The neck pickup has a potent, round, warm, jazzy tone. The bridge pickup has a nice strong twangier tone. There is a tone and volume knob for each pickup and a three way selector to choose between the neck, bridge or both pickups. Using the controls, you can get a variety of sounds suitable for many musical styles, including, jazz, rock, country, rock-a-billy, soul, etc. The pots sound quite clean. Description from VintageSilvertones.com
The Dimensions are:
Overall length: 40.5″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Body width: 16″
Body thickness: 2″ with neck 2 3/8″Description from VintageSilvertones.com
Scale: 24″ approx.
Width of the nut: 1 11/16″ (depth: 7/8″)
String height at 12th fret: 1/16″
Here’s the original description from the 1963 Harmony catalog:
HARMONY PROFESSIONAL GRADE CUTAWAY ELECTRIC GUITARS
HARMONY ROY SMECK ELECTRIC With Type W Vibrato Tailpiece
For the professional, or the player on his way up, Roy Smeck, “Wizard of the Strings:, stage and recording star, endorses this versatile model. The De Armond-designed pickup is outstanding in response. Individual polepieces permit adjustment for emphasis ans balanced sound. Flat-wound strings for fingering comfort. Vibrato tailpiece provides subtle tone changes. “Ultra-Slim” neck, Torque-Lok adjustable reinforcing rod, narrow ovalled fingerboard, bound edge, short scale, Neo-cutaway arched body, laminated maple, wide bound edges, beautifully finished in polished opaque manderin red.Description from VintageSilvertones.com
No. H70-Guitar-size 15 3/4x 40 1/2 in. Rim 2 in. deep……………………….$172.50
No. C73-Carrying Case, keratol, plush lined…………………..$24.50 Description from VintageSilvertones.com
