H173 - Classic
Acoustic flatop
Production year(s) : 1957-1969 (other years possible, not verified)

Other brands : H173 Classic was also sold as Regal R220 | Silvertone 657

Show text from the catalogs (3)

| Show original prices (6)

37 images in database
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Top wood	Spruce
Body wood	Hardwood (birch ?)
All solid woods

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• rlspt - 2005-11-22
  my first guitar was a h173. i loved it, there were times when it was my best friend, helped me through some hard times. it was destroyed in a house fire.
  though i've had dozens of different guitars since, and usually have 8 or 10 around, just recently i bought another h173. i just like having it...
• harmony help - 2005-12-12
  I just bought an h173 and it sounds great!!!The highs are sharp and the lows resonate beautifully.I cant believe these instruments arent woth more.
  Theres a number before the h173,what does this number mean?......the numbers 7063 and Iam assuming because of the rich sound that it is a solid top?.
  thnks.
• Southern Harmony - 2006-02-03
  What a Guitar for the money. I have owned this Guitar for about 12 years and it plays and sounds great. It is very loud and projects very nice. It is a 1965 model and the wood is in wonderful shape. I have seen these Guitars sell in the $150 to $250 range and it is a true bargain for the quality that you get.
• Gregory Jones - 2006-04-17
  I attempt to fingerpick blues on guitars. I was looking for a 12-fret guitar with a slot head. A friend found a 173 in a Dallas pawn shop. It had steel strings so old and rusted they had to have been on there for years. But, the top was fine--no bridge pulling. $50---get it. Several years later with .011's it still has no "classic---he he" damage from living with steel strings. Sounds wonderful throughout the entire range. I wouldn't recommend it----but I didn't do it. Just bought it that way. I love it.
• chris D. - 2006-08-28
  my 64 173 was purchased practicaly unused for27 dollars by me in 1988. i had to have it, at any cost, thank god the guys sister didnt want any more. since then i have almost worn it out (had to refret etc. broke out and lost a brace it has been almost every where i have, even picky snobs and proffessionals have complimented its sound, it still sounds irreplaceable to me (only comparable a similar martin @$1000.00, some wide neck gibsons from $1500-3200.00) and what damage diminished in tone has been replaced with undeniable mojo. Willie Nelson signed it but almost worn off. Same w/ Joe Pritchard from the Recipe. It is undeniably my guitar, and the one irreplacable guitar i have. If i had to i would redily pay the fair price of $200.00 for another(and might anyway) and would pay up to 2000.00 if availability demanded. Any custom guitar of this style i could commission would be made to its specifications, i could go on forever.
• muman - 2007-01-05
  I have an H173 (66) bought it a Salvation Army Thrift Store for $4.oo I just love it!
• Skippy - 2008-12-30
  My mother brought this guitar home in 1969. It is a '65 model. I learned to play on this and still play it now. Sounds warm and full and just gets better the older it gets.
• theguitarmedic - 2009-02-19
  I have two of these now. I bought one on Ebay for $45. I was in disbelief at my good fortune. It is a 1960 model and immaculate. I also recently found one at Goodwill (shopgoodwill.com) in Orange County, and got that one for $35. It is a 1969 model. They are identical, except the 1969 model has aftermarket tuning machines. I found tuning machines on eBay that were advertised as Gibson but they're definitely Harmony. I've restored the 1960 to orginal and it is playable and BEAUTIFUL. The 1969 still needs those tuners--which auction ends on 2/21/09. I look forward to restoring it as well. These are great guitars--well built with birch sides and back, and solid spruce tops, mahogany necks, and Brazilian rosewood (now protected) bridge--and possibly ebony or ebonized rosewood fretboard. It is a very similar guitar to sister H174--which is the Harmony version of the guitar made famous by Jerry Reed--the Baldwin guitar (the "Claw"). This guitar is a priceless one to own and has a wonderful heritage. If you own one, count yourself as quite fortunate!!!
• Wingborn - 2009-03-31
  Hey, muman. I think you're the winner, but a friend of mine is close. I'm cleaning up an H173 for him that he got at a garage sale for $5.00. Seriously underrated guitar, IMHO.
• Bill - 2009-06-11
  I've got the neck off a 3/68 dated H173, and I can see the end grain of the soundboard. It is indeed solid spruce, not a laminate. The back and sides, however, are absolutely plywood. The neck is poplar, or something similar, very greenish.
• Wingborn - 2009-07-15
  Hey, Bill. I liked my friend's H173 so much I went and got one of my own. The necks on both of ours are mahogany, and the backs and sides are solid birch. Solid enough that you can see the grain matches from the inside to the outside of the body. His is an F-63 and mine is an S-61.
• Stockton - 2009-09-16
  I'm 18, and this was my Dad's starter Guitar. He'd been playing for 30+ years, and I had absolutely no interest in playing until I picked this Guitar up. It's a thing of Beauty.
• t_wanger - 2009-10-02
  Been a Harmony fan since my teens. Just bought an H173 on eBay for $65. Wanted nylon strings as my hands are too creaky now for steel. Very nice instrument...spartan in looks, but wonderful tone and good playability. Mine is a s-63, looks like it sat in someone's closet for 40 years, hardly a scratch! Neck looks like stained maple, I don't think it is real mahogany. Fingerboard also appears to be a stained birch or maple in imitation of rosewood. Very sweet instrument, made in USA!
• Dow D. - 2010-02-03
  I inherited a '70 H173 a couple of years ago...nice shape...but well played....sounds AWESOME!!! The tone is so deep and rich, very loud and clear...love it! And I bought a '65 model off ebay a couple weeks ago...it is very nice looking too, but it didnt have the same great tone of the other one I had. I've been playing the tar out of it everyday now and it is coming back to life....knocks the socks off the 174 I have. I cut down the bone saddle to lower the action so I can finger pick Jerry Reed style...super slick little guitar!