Help dating Harmony Monterey?

[Peter Kurtze]

I recently picked up this Harmony Monterey, and it doesn't have a date stamp inside. It's so clean that I guessed it must be fairly recent, but it has an older-style logo and lower-ratio tuners. It came in a tan faux-tweed chipboard case. Also, I've never seen block inlays on any except the Batwing. Can anyone help? Thanks!

[Jeff Mando]

I'm not sure if this holds true for Harmony mandolins, but with the Harmony Sovereign guitars the word "Harmony" on the logo is in block letters until 1962, then it switches to script after that.

[Peter Kurtze]

Thanks, Jeff! Good to know!

[slimt]

Ive seen dates stamped inside on archtops. Would your mandolin have a two digit number inside? Usually in blue ink.

[Peter Kurtze]

Thanks, slimt, I've looked inside from both f-holes, from every angle I could think of, and haven't found one. A mystery.

[William Smith]

Its defiantly not 40's, It doesn't look 50's to me, I'd say its 1960's by the look of it?

[NickR]

Tuners suggest 1960s but there ought to be a date stamp inside. This would be incorporated in a block of text that says MADE IN USA with the date as an S or F with the year- 69, for example. It may be that it was a special order and they used the batwing board. However, you find that if parts were running out alternatives were found- and it may have been that to finish a run, a batwing board or two were grabbed!

[Peter Kurtze]

Thanks, William and Nick! This one must have been hiding when the date stamps were handed out. Inside the bass f-hole it has 4790H417 in blue ink clear as day; from other posts, I understand this is the model number preceded by four possibly random digits. On the other side there are only three black dots, as if from a large felt-tip marker. The consensus seems to be 60s, and the spare-parts theory is intriguing!

[NickR]

I have a Kay 6175- a cherry red small jumbo flat top from about 1966. It is supposed to have six block markers but has eight. The next guitar up in the Kay range- the super jumbo the 8127 has eight block markers. It was a while before I noticed this- I have an 8127 but I have never seen another with eight markers. Clearly, the whole neck or just the board were grabbed for some reason- probably expedience but it may have been deliberate! Here is a 6175- and when I look at it, I think something is missing- the board appears all wrong! Mine has faded to pink!

https://reverb.com/item/23636768-kay...bo-cherry-1965

[MikeEdgerton]

Without the date code it will be hard to place it. The three stamped dots were probably the date code stamp without enough ink. In 1970 Harmony was introducing the 24:1 ratio tuners most of us that have tried didn't care for. I think it's mid to late 60's and they probably ran short of fretboards and grabbed what they had to finish a production run.

[Peter Kurtze]

Wow, Nick -- that's an awesome guitar! The color, the bridge, the pickguard! Now that you mention it, though, I see that it needs two more markers...

Thanks, Mike, it's great to see the catalog page!

[NickR]

Thanks! That guitar was an Xmas present to myself as I was crippled by sciatica and feeling worse than awful! It appeared on eBay with a very low BIN and I made a slightly lower offer and it was accepted. The seller was a 1960s (and later) rock musician and he asked me if I wanted it delivered before Xmas- it was Dec 23rd! He very kindly pulled out all the stops and it was with me at 8am on Xmas Eve! His guitar collection has been featured in magazines and for some reason, he sold this Kay at what I consider a bargain price as it needs no work- the neck has been reset. I paid 40% of the price asked for that one on Reverb and as I am in the UK, this fairly rare guitar in the USA is super rare over here. In fact, it is currently my "go to" flat top- great tone, nice fat frets and a good action although that Kay scale of 25.75 is a bit challenging but okay as the action is good.

The catalogue shows the mandolins with the script logo and I think the block logo info from Jeff Mando may well show it to be early 60s.
This one has a 1970 date stamp:https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/20...-mandolin.html

[MontanaMatt]

Step one, ask Harmony on a date, something low pressure, like a lunch date. Step two play it cool, don’t let her know you are way into mandolins(save that for the third date or later). Perhaps just say you like guitar music!
Be polite, and chew your food with your mouth closed.
Good luck dating that gal!

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!

[Peter Kurtze]

Matt, that's some good advice! Especially the part about table manners...