Brand: Harmony
Instrument Categories: Archtop, Electric, Guitars, SOLD, Thinline
Built from 1958 to 1966, the Harmony Meteor H70 thinline archtop electric was mass produced in Chicago, and popular with many amateur and rising musicians – even appearing on Rolling Stones stages in the hands of Keith Richards.
The Meteor H70 was also available as the Meteor H71 – the same guitar, but with a Natural finish instead of sunburst. The largest difference between the Meteor H70 and models like the Rocket H54 is the use of Spruce laminate for the top instead of Maple. This choice gives the guitar a more complex, warmer tone than the Maple top models.
This is an early Harmony Meteor H70, likely built during 1958. It is in overall good, original condition though it is missing its pickguard. It is built with Laminate Spruce for the top, laminate Maple for the back and sides, and Maple for the neck with Rosewood for the bridge and bound fingerboard. At this time, Rosewood still often meant ‘Brazilian’, even on mass produced instruments, and that seems to be the case here. The neck profile is full, as was the case for many late 1950s instruments, and the relatively short scale makes first position chords an easy reach.
For hardware, a pair of gold foil ‘Golden Tone’ pickups by DeArmond feed through a pickup selector and individual volume and tone controls. The strip tuners and trapeze tailpiece are original, as are the ‘cupcake’ style volume and tone knobs.
This very nice vintage piece plays well, and the gold foil pickups sound great.
A non-original hard shell case is included. The original case would have been a faux-gator paper fibre case – also known as cardboard – and many of these cases have not lasted.
- Model: Meteor H70
- Year: 1958 | Approximate year
- Finish Sunburst
- Class: Vintage
- Serial Number: E-58E
- Country of Origin: USA
- Condition: Good
- Date Posted: 04/09/2019
- This instrument has been sold
- Consignment Item
- Required CITES documentation
- Instrument Weight: 5.94lbs 2.7kg
- Scale Length: 24.125in 612mmmm
- Nut Width: 1.75in 44.5mm
