A question about Harmony

[zyonmetal]

Hi, i am onwer of a Harmony Les Paul custom, with dimarzio pickups, searching info about it on the web, i founded the harmony.demont site, but there´s no nothing about this model, in the official site say that the factory never moves outside of us, so must i asume that my guitar is made in usa, or there is a serie or pdroduction made in some another factory under Harmony brand? Tanx for the info, greetings!!

[Spud1950]

I know a little about this. These guitars were made in Japan and imported by Harmony after the Harmony USA operation closed down. I've seen a few for sale stating they were made from the mid 1970s into the 1980s. I don't know exactly which factory in Japan made them, but they were part of what is known as the "lawsuit guitars", being that they were unauthorized copies of Fenders,Gibsons,etc. You can do a Google search for "Harmony Les Paul copy" and get a little more info,but there really doesn't seem to be too much about them.

Edit- Here's one for sale on eBay.Don't know if it's correct,but says that it was made at the Matsumoku factory.

[cheepaxes]

Hmm. I've never heard that Harmony guitars were ever made by Matsumoku (as is suggested in that eBay auction).

-Scott

[Big Beat]

Not Matsumoku, and not Japan. These guitars were made in Korea in the late 70's - early 80's, long after the American Harmony company went out of business. DiMarzio pickups are some previous owner's upgrade.

[zyonmetal]

i´m not agree with that last, i´m 100% sure that the dimarzio came with the guitar from the factory, the most of dimarzio, of replacement lines, have some diferrences compares with the used to be come in that kind of guitars, in the mid 70´s - early 80´s. tanx for the info.

[VintAxe]

Hey zyonmetal,

In general, I must agree with Big Beat's assement. I have been collecting some of these 1980's Harmony Guitar flyers and from what I see they appear to be built in Korea. The description of the pickups in these ads does not suggest they are "name brands". For example, a 1985 flyer described the pups in the guitars as:

"chrome plated pickup"
"two double coil pickups"
"three coil pickups"

If they were installing DiMarzio's, it seems they would say so in their attempt to market the guitars.

As a side note, they describe the transducer in one of their acoustic guitars as a "Barcus Berry" indicating they are not oblivious to the selling power of brand name components.

So, since we don't really know when your LP copy was built, it is possible the Dimarzio pups are stock. Korean companies were beginning to use American parts during this era. However, as a general rule, I think BB is correct. I guess the bottom line is you have an inexpensive guitar with quality pups so just enjoy it. sb

[Big Beat]

Some Hondo Les Pauls did come stock with DiMarzios circa 1978-79, that was a big selling point for Hondo. But this isn't one of them.

I remember in the 80's knowledgeble repairmen would buy up these Hondos just for the pickups, as most people didn't know this and the complete guitars sold for less than the cost of one new DiMarzio ("oh, it's just an old Korean copy, I'll give you $25")

[devnulljp]

[sublemon]

What other people have said is correct, the imported harmonys are most likely from Korea (though, of course, there is a chance that someone had a batch of them made in Japan at some point, stranger things have happened). If you want a great Japanes LP copy, look for an Electra MPC. They actually were made by matsumoku. And you can probably get one for not too much more than that Harmony on ebay went for...

[opotable]

korean or whatever, i bought one in canada along with a couple of old archtops just becuse it looked nice. and the neck was unscrewable so it fitted in a suitcase.

[opotable]