H53 - Rocket 1 pickup
Electric hollowbody - Sunburst then red in 1963
Production year(s) : 1959-1967 (other years possible, not verified)

Other brands : H53 Rocket 1 pickup was also sold as Barclay H53-3

1 pickup - Single cutaway - H53/1 is the double cutaway later (1968) model. H53 model number was also previously used (fifties ?) on a full body sunburst archtop (Silvertone)

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Scale

24"1/4

615 mm

15 comments | Add your comment !

• doanclan@theedge.ca - 2006-11-18
  I just acquired a 1964 H53 Rocket from Avenue Guitars in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
  The Rocket is in VG condition with a few nicks and scratches but is otherwise outstanding with excellent action and a tone and vibe that takes me back to my teen years.
  Even my wife who never really notices the tonal differences between other guitars I own has commented that the Rocket has a sweet and distinctive sound.
  I owned a Harmony solid body back in the seventies which I also enjoyed for several years but sold off my collection in 84 when I left Ontario. (Boy have I regretted that!!) I don't recall the vintage but it was in rough condition and I ended up refinishing the body natural. What I do recall is that it was my "playing" guitar at a time when I had half a dozen guitars including a couple of Gibsons (62 Melody Maker single pick up and an SG).
  The H53 is a keeper and one guitar that I will be holding onto for the foreseeable future.
  Doug
• chad - 2006-12-28
  I have a rocket that was my guitar teachers, my parents bought it from him for me when I was in
  sixth grade. I have been playing on it for 17 years and althogh I now have other guitars, I keep coming back to the old rocket. My guitar is red and has the earlier of the two pick ups used, it dosn't have an adjustable truss rod eather so I am pretty sure it,s an earlier model. There is something about these old guitars,eventhough they were cheaper made they still have a nice sound and great playability. I love mine and could never sell it.
• Perma Frost - 2007-07-07
  I have one of these gems but need to get some info on the pickups such as a wiring diagram, if anyone can help that would be brilliant.
  I have been playing the guitar with no amplification and it still rocks, great sound.
• Phil - 2007-08-13
  I just bought a vintage 1963 Harmony Rocket H53 that came equipped with one gold foil DeArmond pickup. The Harmony Rocket has to be one of the coolest guitars I've ever played. The action on the guitar is terrific and the DeArmond pickup sounds amazing with no background hum. The guitar puts out a great vintage blues/rockabilly tone that modern guitars like the Epiphone Dot and Wildkat only dream of sounding like. The neck on the guitar is a little chunkier than I am normally used to, but it is not uncomfortable to play. The only thing I wish this guitar had would be an adjustable truss rod, otherwise this guitar is an amazing bargain. I would absolutely recommend trying out one of these Harmony Rockets if you can find one.
• Jon - 2007-11-13
  I live in Vancouver BC and my first real guitar was H53 Harmony Rocket that my dad bought me in around 1963/4 and which I traded in 1968 for what I believe was the first Ovation Roundback Accoustic Guitar brought into Canada by Pamus Music in Vancouver. That guitar was unfortunately destroyed in 1996 but the neck lives on in a custom Larivee.
  I now own 14 guitars including a number of Gibsons, Fenders and am actively bidding for an H53 on Ebay as I write this. Hope to add it to my collection and play a bit of blues at some gigs. It will look good beside my new Gibson ES-137 Custom, also a single cutaway semi hollow
• Rob - 2008-01-11
  Awesome i had one of the cherry red models when i was young but never had any pictures. Thanks Rob
• Kerry Ayres - 2008-05-24
  I have a '66 with a newer bigsby installed. Super sweet tone, nice playability. I just need to find a new case for it...the two tone chipboard case is coming apart.
• pedgalad - 2008-10-02
  i have a rocket from spring of 1963. it was originally sunburst and one of the last sunburst ones made, but it was refinished black with just a tad of the natural maple in the center. the volume and tone controls are amazingly wide on here. the action is really nice and you get that classic 1960s jangle.the tuners need oiled pretty badly, but other than that, it stays in tune pretty long. the bottom strap button broke so it does need some repairs. but it has lasted without anything major on it for 45 years.
• rexco54@gmail.com - 2008-10-03
  I have a mongomery ward guitar and like it and it looks just like a harmony
• John - 2008-10-14
  I had the pleasure to play one of these last week it has one of the sweetest tones ive ever heard :( the neck was awesome too.. ATM currently trapesing the net looking for 1 to buy
• Big D - 2008-10-21
  about 30 years ago I found one of these guitars at a goodwill store. It was painted black and I didn't know just what it was, but it looked coolso I took it up front to ask the price. The lady said it was $2.50, but that day was half price day so I got it for $1.25. Best guitar deal I've ever had!
• mick - 2009-02-04
  I inherited my Dad's H53, it came in very nice condition, the pickguard was broken in two. I made a new one from Lexan. My Dad replaced the bridge so he could set the intonation. I play it from time to time, it sounds great. The neck has some wear on the back from a lot of playing. Great guitar!
• toddranua@yahoo.com - 2009-06-22
  When I was eight or nine (1972-1973)I stopped at a garage sale on my way home one day, there was an electric guitar with a price tag of $10.00, I ran all the way home, I remember my father siting at the kitchen table and after pestering him for about ten minutes he agreed to take a walk down the street to check it out, he bought the red 1965 H53 and to my dismay it was his guitar when we got it home, the only thing wrong was the pick guard was missing, to this day it's a very nice guitar, on fathers day 2009 some 37 years later he handed it over to me, I love this guitar and it's priceless as far as im concerned, now if I can protect it from my own five year old son it will be his in,say 15-20 years! THANKS DAD!!
• mark - 2009-07-15
  i own a h53 1963 red harmony single pickup my brother picked it up for at a yardsale for four dollars and it plays great the only thing missing is the pick guard
• wreck53 - 2009-09-26
  I just bought the carcass [body and neck, that's it]of an H53, made before 1966 judging by the SRN printed where the truss-rod cover would be. I had been trying to figure out which of the shallow hollow electric models had truss rods and which didn't before buying and, after making some notes, I came up with the following:
  "A note about Harmony model numbers: Numerical order is not chronological order, and one cannot say that all models in a certain range, e.g. H53 - H79, are of a certain type, although that is nearly true. All of the models in that range except H55 are electric archtops, and most [i.e., all but H57 and H58, H62 and H63, and H65] are “thin” or shallow hollowbody electrics, for a total of about 20 models.
  All models with a foreslash in the number [e.g., H53/1], are double-cutaway versions of the earlier, single-cutaway Rockets with the same number minus the “ /1" [e.g., H53/1 is the double-cut version of the earlier H53] and, conversely. all double-cut Rocket model numbers have the foreslash [e.g., H53/1 and H59/1]., But not all double-cut models have the foreslash [e.g., H60 Meteor and H64].
  "All of the shallow hollowbody electrics had DeArmond pickups made by Rowe Industries of Toledo, Ohio, but there were two main types: the smaller [e.g. “Golden Tone”, “double moustache” or “double toaster”] type, which appeared on all Rockets, and the larger type, which appeared only on Meteors and not until 1967. Although Rockets eventually had three of the smaller pickups [e.g., Model H59] Meteors were fancier than Rockets. All Meteors had two pickups and a bound fretboard with large pearloid block inlays starting with the third fret. Other than that, it appears that the main difference between the Rockets and Meteors until 1966 was that only the latter had a truss rod, at least from 1960. Appointments of models H72 and H75 through H79 are fancier than those of either Rockets or Meteors.
  "The shallow hollowbody electrics began around 1958 to1959 with the single-cutaway Rocket models H53 and H54 and Meteor models H70 and H71. The other single-cutaway Rockets are H56 [two pickups and vibrato] and H59 [from 1960], the latter of which was the first of the three-pickup models.
  "The single-cutaway Meteors are Models H70 [3-color sunburst] and H71 [blond].
  "Beginning in 1961, Harmony introduced three models with a Telecaster-like body shape. Models H66, H73 and H74 have these Tele-shaped bodies. Models H66 and H74 were the first of these [1961].
  "Double-cutaway models were introduced around 1966. Models H60 and H64 [1967-70] are double-cut Meteors, and were the first of the double-cutaway models. [Double-cutaway Rockets began in 1968.]
  "Around 1966, Harmony apparently decided to go after its upmarket competitors’ thin-hollow-electric customers a bit more aggressively. Models featuring appointments fancier than any before them were introduced around the same time as the first double-cutaway models. These fancier double-cutaway models include: Model H72, which had unique, bound sound holes; H75, which had three pickups, pearloid fretboard blocks from the first fret and bound f-holes; H76, which is an H75 with a Bigsby; H77, which is a ‘redburst’ version of H75; H78, an H77 with a Bigsby; and H79, the 12-string version."
  I hope that the above notes are reasonably accurate and that they'll be of some use to other guys like me looking for the right shallow-hollow-electric Harmony!