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Thread: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

  1. #26
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    I don't see where that is proof of anything by the way, if Harmony had wanted to serialize their instruments they could have. Your mandolin looks familiar, I've had this one since the late 1960's. My Uncle Ken received it used as a gift in the 30's.
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    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  2. #27

    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    Mike, that's the same instrument, all right. I think, judging by the catalogue illustration, a "price cut" version was sold but it has the less expensive neck with the larger headstock. Out of interest, does yours have a label or date stamp to confirm the date? Mine has brass tuners which is why I think it is early 30s.

  3. #28

    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    My point being -- if you want to locate a "specific date" instrument, such as your birthday -- then, F or S has little meaning in reaching this goal. The year, however, is significant, IMHO. Let's say I want an instrument that was in use during Hank Williams, Sr.'s lifetime, for example. "Beatles era" instruments would be another reason to know the year, as I see it.

    Not Harmony, but in the case of Gibson, I own a 1984 Gibson Les Paul. With a little research, I found it was made on June 6, 1984 -- a Wednesday, which made me happy it wasn't a Monday or Friday guitar, FWIW. Norlin was sold in 1986, so my guitar is definitely a Norlin era Gibson. But, interestingly, Gibson closed their Kalamazoo factory on June 29, 1984 -- so I had hope that mine was one of the last Kalamazoo Les Pauls, keep in mind Gibson opened the Nashville plant in 1974 and Les Paul's were being made in both factories, so....anyway, among the misinformation offered by the internet, I found a few people who actually sounded like they knew what they were talking about. The verdict: not 100%, but mine was made in Nashville beyond a "reasonable" doubt, which still leaves me with the hope for Kalamazoo origin.

    Does it matter? Not really, it is just fun research guitar nuts like to do. And, I like the guitar, regardless.

  4. #29
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    Mike, that's the same instrument, all right. I think, judging by the catalogue illustration, a "price cut" version was sold but it has the less expensive neck with the larger headstock. Out of interest, does yours have a label or date stamp to confirm the date? Mine has brass tuners which is why I think it is early 30s.
    Mine has a small piece of label that I can't even identify, maybe 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch. No date code. For many years I assumed it was a Regal. Later I determined it was most likely a Harmony.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  5. #30
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    Quote Originally Posted by NickR View Post
    Mike, that's the same instrument, all right. I think, judging by the catalogue illustration, a "price cut" version was sold but it has the less expensive neck with the larger headstock. Out of interest, does yours have a label or date stamp to confirm the date? Mine has brass tuners which is why I think it is early 30s.
    So every mandolin deserves a story. I may have told this before. My uncle was thrown out of just about every bar in my hometown with that mandolin. There are small nails holding it together. In the late 60's my aunt threw him out for being a less than stellar husband. He was sleeping on my parents couch for a month or so and finally his sainted wife took him back with one caveat. He had to get rid of the mandolin. Apparently she realized that mandolins are the things that break up marriages. Now, my wife thinks I play better by far. The farther away the better. One time I was working on Hank Williams' Lovesick Blues. She told me it sounded awful. The next week we were in the car and I was playing a CD (remember those?) and Hank Williams comes on singing Lovesick Blues. She says "Well, you sound better than that guy does" but I digress. No mandolin ever broke up my marriage but apparently it did for my aunt and uncle. That's how that mandolin came to be mine. During the great depression my mother's family lived across the street from a firehouse. One of the fireman gave that mandolin to my uncle. If you find a catalog page I'd love to see it.
    Last edited by MikeEdgerton; Mar-03-2023 at 9:09pm.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  7. #31

    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    Mike does your label fragment have blue in it? I think at the time these were made it was a mainly blue circular label used by Supertone but a little later on it was mostly off-white.

    Your mandolin story is great if tinged with sadness- but the mandolin was clearly a prized possession that your uncle had for decades, so it is good that you are looking after it. For many years I was constantly being told that my mandolin playing was awful and why couldn't I play "such and such" a tune. For years I was struggling not to drop the pick and just cleanly pick a note and advance to a tremolo or just fret the notes cleanly. Learning mandolin is a bit like constructing something where you have to learn to make each individual piece- unlike piano where you just hit the key and the note sounds.
    As I mentioned, this Sears, Roebuck catalogue advertisement heralds a price cut and it shows a different neck and headstock- was it a downgraded version and was the mandolin made with a cheaper neck or is it just the art department copying another mandolin with that chunkier headstock and shorter board, I don' know. One of these mandolins was posted up on the Stromberg Voisinet Kay Kraft site and everyone was saying it was a Regal. I said it was a Harmony- the fingerboard extension is the most obvious sign of difference to a Regal. I posted the photo up on the Harmony Guys board and one of the members who is on Ancestry.Com ( I think) has access through it to Sears catalogues and he quickly found this which from memory I think he stated was 1933. As you can see the fingerboard in the illustration is not extended over the sound hole with that sharp straight line cut.

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  9. #32

    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    I plan to make a slightly larger tortoiseshell pickguard. The current one is broken by the top fixing screw but I have mended it. At some point it was glued at the edge which has dissolved and taken off the finish, so a slightly wider and longer guard will cover a few marks and will enhance its look a bit. Here are the tuners- Harmony seems to have gone for brass in a big way in the late 20s /early 30s which is another reason I think it is very early 1930s.

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  10. #33

    Default Re: Harmony Monterey serial numbers

    With the new celluloid tortoiseshell pickguard. In the end, I did not make it bigger to cover the damage to the finish where the other black broken one had been stuck down a bit. You can see the finish damage caused by the earlier crack repair- the glue dissolved it.

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