Harmony Archtops
This is the “Cadillac” of the archtop thinlines. The pickups are Maximum DeArmond and the three toggles give you 6 positions. The tremolo is a Bigsby. It features an “Ultra Slim” neck with “Torque-Lok” adjustable reinforcing truss rod. It also sports an ovalled rosewood fingerboard with edge bindings and inlaid position markers. The body is curly maple and the tone, beautiful! This was Harmony’s answer to the Gibson ES335. Harmony really tried to break into the professional market with these. The headstock is tortoise. They were offered in two colors, warm cherry tone red, and rich brown mahogany sunburst. The models are identified in this manner: H75, mahogany sunburst, deluxe fixed tailpiece. H76, same as H75 but with Bigsby “True Vibrato” tailpiece. H77 Cherry red, deluxe fixed tailpiece. H78, same as H77 but with Bigsby “True Vibrato” tailpiece.
Most Harmony hollowbody electrics were designed to be used with heavy flat wound strings. Since most players do not use flat wound strings, it is important to find the happy medium. 9-42 gauge strings are too light, the pickups do a good job of getting signal, but the bolt on necks are a little “goosey”. The best gauge that I have found for Harmony hollowbody guitars is 10-46. This still allows us benders to wail, while getting the neck stability much better. The pickups also “hear” the heavier gauge strings better, and as a general rule, the heavier the string, the better the tone. Originally, these guitars had 11-52 gauge, all right for rhythm or finger style, but a little heavy for my taste.
Source: http://journal.joshcarr.com/blog/2004/11/16/harmony-h75-h76-h77-h78
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