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Family : Bobkat, Silhouette line

Other brands : H15 Bobkat was also sold as Holiday AL9216

20 images in database
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Original catalog descriptions

[1966 catalog]
Solid body electric guitar
- Profile styled for beauty and ease of playing.
- Modern design and DeArmond electronics for speed and response, to give you what you want for today's music and playing style !
- With famous "Slim Line" neck, "Ultra Slim" fingerboards, and Torque Lok adjustable dual reinforcing rods. Short scale for easy chording.
Model H15, double pickup
As on the model to the left, the experienced player will readily see how the Silhouette profile and the full rounded edges, top and back, further add to his comfort in playing. The Golden Tone dual pickups designed by DeArmond are angled mounted to provide estended range of tone. Separate tone and volume control for each and selector switch to change from one to the other or play both together. Shaded walnut wood finish to enhance the maple grain. Performs as well as it looks !
H15, Size 12 3/4 x 36 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. : $87.50.
H15V - Same with No.1750 Type W vibrato tailpiece : $97.50
HC14 Carrying case for either model : $12.00

[1971 catalog]
Solid body electric guitar
- Modern design and GoldenTone electronics for speed and response, to give you what you want for today's music and playing style ! Pickups are fully guaranteed.
- Profile styled for beauty and ease of playing.
- With famous "Slim Line" neck, "Ultra Slim" fingerboards, and Torque Lok adjustable dual reinforcing rods. Short scale for easy chording.
H15 Bob Kat model, double pickup
Same as No 14 but with dual Golden Tone pickups, angle mounted. Separate Tone and Volume controls for each. Selector switch to change from one to the other or play both together.
H15, Size 12 3/4 x 36 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. : $87.50.
H15V - Same with No.1750 Type W vibrato tailpiece : $97.50
HC14 Carrying case for either model : $12.00

Original price

  1967 : $87.50
  1969 : $87.50
  1971 : $87.50
  1972 : $89.50

Verified production year(s) : 1964-1971
others years possible, not verified.

15 comments | Add your comment !

• Ray - 2005-09-26
  I have an H-15, 1965 Harmony. It was bought at a pawn shop a few years ago for $35 Canadian. I was astounded by the playability of this guitar. Light, fits just right in your hand and pick-ups sound great. This was a little treasure that I found! I've been playing for 35 years and had namy guitars (Fender, Gretsch, Gibson, Guild, Larrivée etc..) this little `feller` is wonderful. I wouldn't sell it (and I have been offered too). -Ray
• Rusty Ford - 2005-10-28
  My experience is much like Ray's. I am continuously blown away by the tone of this little "GEM!!!" every time Iplug it in!!! I only wish it was full size . I found mine for $78.00 in almost mint condition. Then I found another one With a broken headstock that had been nailed to the wall of a blues bar for many years . I bought it for $50 . The pickups work fine and I plan to install them into a custum guitar soon.
• Jerry - 2006-08-24
  Bought my H15 from a music store (Beaumont Music Co.?) over by Gateway Bowling Alley in Beaumont, Texas in 1966. Purchased a Kalamazoo model two amp to go along with the H15. Traded the amp for a Fender Vibro-Champ in the early 70s and only recently got rid of it. Why? I don't know. I should have kept it. Still got the H15 and the original case. It sounds today as good as it ever did.......played through a vintage Sansui 5050 and into two 15 inch Technics speakers. I even recently bought a vintage Electro-Harmonix LPB-1 on Ebay to put the H15 back into the combo I used when my friends and I used to jam on the weekends. Oh, the memories.............
• George - 2006-10-27
  I've got a '67 Holiday brand H15 with three pick ups and individual on off switches for each one. Original case, strap, cord, and booklet. I play it through an '84 Peavey Heritage VTX. It sounds better than my Les Paul on the clean channel. I just wish I could find out more info about it.
• Kerry Ayres - 2006-11-24
  Hi, great site! My first electric guitar was the sunburst yellow H-15, I can't recall if it was new or used, purchased for me by my parents at Atlanta's Rhythm City in Buckhead, circa 1967. I had to choose between the Bobkat and an old, off white scratched up Gibson SG or a very similar Gibson. I went for the shiny sunburst of the H-15, and my folks bought the Kalamazoo Model 2 amplifier to go with it. When I played the Bobkat through the Model 2, I was disturbed by all that fuzzy tone when I cranked the amp. I learned to enjoy the fuzzy tone, but wished the amp stayed clean. The Bobkat was hitting the amp with its hot pickups, and the fuzzy tone I was getting was later to be known as an overdriven, class A EL84 amp tone!!
  I still have the H-15, with a broken pickguard. The neck on mine is not slim, it is in ballbat territory. Fat and jazzy on the neck pickup, twangy with bite on the bridge, and nice for rhythm with both selected. My guitar suffers from the same syndrome that lots of Harmony electrics do and that is treble is lost when you roll down the volume. I also have a two pickup '67 Rocket and a two pickup '69 Rebel. Great axes!
• Paul aka Chief - 2007-01-03
  I have holiday H15 just like the red one in the pictures. I bought it from sears and it came with a case and holiday amp. My dad brought it to a music shop for me, and I had them put a vibrato bar on it. It's a little beat up, but still plays half way decent. I remember you could play a radio through the pickups and have it come out of the amp.
• Zero - 2007-02-09
  I had an H-15 as my first electric. I sold it when I got a Les Paul Copy and sold that when I got a real Les Paul. But I always had a soft spot in my heart for my Harmony. Thanks to eBay I found another one, this time with the whammy bar. It gets more of a workout now than my Paul does. The Goldtone pickups are more powerful and expressive than the Humbuckers too. I'd like a Fender Jagmaster, but now I'm thinking about just putting these electronics in a Jag body to give it more heft. For the price these guitars can't be beat. I'd put it up against a Dan Electro Silvertone any day. They are the best of the Department Store / Catalogue Guitars of the 60's.
• Phil Bleach - 2007-02-10
  I own a modded Harmony H-15. Dated Sept. 9, 1965. Has the original DeArmond, plus a mid-60's strat pickup with staggered polepieces in the middle, in the same angle as the Dearmonds. Fitted a lo-fi circuit inside wich lifts the ground, cuts the lows and make the lead volume knob act as a balance knob between the strat pup and the bridge pup, or make the tone go in total AM-car-radio-through-2''-inches-paper-cone-speaker-tone. I grounded the tailpiece, ever noticed the strings were not grounded? I put 6 tuners from a Yamaha neck I had lying around, and I installed a Bigsby aluminium compensated bridge and a pair of straploks. I really like it.
• achord - 2007-08-19
  I had a H-15 for 40 years (1965 - 2005) that looked exactly like the pictures on this site. This "Bobcat" was a little smaller and lighter than full sized guitars. It was sunburst with two pickups with beautiful covers and volume and tone controls for each pickup that produced an unbelievable tone that is hard to beat.
• felix 'siam - 2007-09-08
  I have the 1967 model. it's my favorite guitar ever. i play it and also record. i would't replace 'er for the world. has it's own sound holds a tuning very well, this guitar is worn but every bit breatiful to me. gold pick ups, tremelo bar. i have owned it for as long as i remember...
• MikeyBass - 2007-09-26
  I recently found an H15 at a yardsale, and purchased it for $50 cdn. I got the original case with it, and the pickups were in mint condition. I removed the pickguard and i found out that the production date was printed on the back. So the guitar I have was made june 14th, 1966. The pots and wires were garbage, so I removed them and bought new ones. After dismantling the electronics, I decided to refinish the guitar ( still in progress, newborns impede work ). Before I started my work, I couldn't believe how good the guitar sounded, and to think people still consider them nothing more than crap ( the opinion I recieved when I told my old music store co-workers about my purchase). I've seen 3 more in the London, Ontario area for anyone looking for one.
• Kayters87 - 2007-09-27
  I just found one in a garbage pile and opened it up to find it is an H15 made in 1966...Sounds like an interesting guitar. Any comments or tips on refabing this guitar. It needs new everything and refinishing.
• kevin mc - 2007-10-19
  I have a Holiday electric made 3 days after your Harmony (holiday is harmony appearently), with the same Rowe Ind, inc stamp
• Dan - 2008-01-13
  The H-15 in those pictures looks exactly like mine...except mine is a single pickup model. Are these marked with the model number anywhere? Or does anyone know the model of the single pickup version?
  My experience has been like everyone elses though. My friend rescued this from a dumpster. It didn't have volume or tone knobs, but the pots were still there...although the tone pot didn't work. I've since replaced the original pots and put on some good looking knobs. This thing plays and sounds like a guitar that should cost several hundred dollars. I couldn't be happier!
• Dominick - 2008-01-26
  This was my very first electric guitar. I received it as a Christmas gift from my parents in 1964. Guess what? I still own it complete with original case. It still sounds and plays great. I have pictures of me including old home movies , playing it through a Ampeg Gemini II. I thought the guitar was long gone. When my mom passed away in 2001, my brother found it in my parent's attic. After 30 years the neck was straight as an arrow, even after being in an attic all that time