 H74 - Neo-Cutaway
Electric hollowbody - Sunburst
Production year(s) : 1961-1967 (other years possible, not verified)
Special design "half-cutaway" body, with Bigsby vibrato. Equiped with "Golden-Tone Indox" pickups, with the adjustable polepieces ("double mustache") from 1963.
 69 images in database
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18 comments | Add your comment ! - erikray - 2005-11-16
I have played my H74 onstage for the past 3 years. It is my main workhorse...Huge tone, easy to play, great vibrato effect with the Bigsby tailpiece. It has never given me any problems, stays in tune well and just keeps on ticking! I have it tuned down a whole step, and use roundwound .13 - .56 Dean Markely Jazz strings on it. Great guitar! - KOHARA - 2006-12-12
H74-I bought this guitar used in 1968 and used it professionally for about 1 year. I then put it away and it has been used by my kids and grand kids as a toy. About a month ago I dug it out of the closet, cleaned it up, set the neck and put a new set of tuners on it. OH MY GOD does it ever sound good. I know that these guitars are not expensive today and I would recommend an H74 to anyone seeking great vintage tone. Mine is a 1966 model with the adjustable pole piece pickups. - Marko - 2007-06-18
My father gave me this guitar when I was about 10 yrs. old. I'm now 39, and know it is older than me. He had bought it used from a buddy in 66', and had always told me what strings to put on it and how to store it. I didn't actually start playing it until I was 23 when I found it in the family garage!! The only thing missing is the pick guard, and have had to replace the tuning heads w/ a very similar look as the original. I cannot believe the way it plays! Crisp tone, great vibrato, fast and slender neck...and to think a pawnshop was gonna give me a measly $50 for it (didn't really plan on selling it, just a 'guestimate'). Still remains hardy and true and hope I can pass it on to my son. - André Patrick Pascal - 2008-08-30
Mine is a h-74 1961 sunburst electric hollowbody Single cutaway and bigsby, it seems all 1960 + 1961 models are not price-listed, In my estimation they are prototypes,. - sam - 2009-04-13
I have owned my H74 for over 40 years. Bought it new when I was 16 or 17 years old and now I'm 60. It looks almost as good as the day I bought it. My son and his friends are always wanting me to sell it to them because they love the way it sounds, looks and plays. I plan on keeping it to the day I die as it has become one of my best friends. - Mr. Nielsen - 2009-06-29
Was my first guitar bougt in 1995, and the guitar I learned to play with (1995). It's from 1966, and the first owner was the guitarist in "Red squares" an English band (1966) from Bolton, who had a dosen gig's around in Denmark, Germany and France. The guitarist tryed to sell the guitar to Miles Davis when he visit Denmark at the same time, but he refused and the guitar was sold to a dane, after which his son sold the guitar to me. The guitar then had to be fixed up, and I have removed all the original layer with sandpaper, and gaved the guitar many layers of limeoil. (The John Lennon/George Harrison Epiphone Casino-way)
Later in may 1999 I toked my Harmony with me to London, England for the whole month!
My Harmony H74 still sound great, and at my summerholiday this year 2009, it will play at the beaches in Croatia and Italy.
I play only acoustic with my Harmony... - wallytarkington - 2009-07-12
I found one of these at a garage sale last week. I paid 15 dollars for it. It has been refinished. It was originally blue sparkle, and the bigsby has been swapped out for some junky vibrato unit. I took it home, changed the tuners and cleaned it up and I immediately fell in love with it. This thing sounds great and I will hang onto this one. Thank you for providing an excellent resource for these old things. I only suspected that it was a Harmony as there are no markings to be seen anywhere on it. (they were all removed when it was refinished) - POOCH - 2010-11-16
I bought mine a while back. Cleaned up and all original. I bought it because I was attracted to how it looked. The tone felt very much like a 60's garage rock band. I found that likable and bought it. It has a really snappy tone which is great for strumming rhythm parts. For lead guitar playing its nice, but the combo of rough action and a wooden bridge to make it to well suited for that style. If you want to power your way through some garage rock tunes this is a cool guitar, but if you want something really solid, this isn't it. But hey, no vintage Harmony is really that solid!!! Great guitar fun to play - temegin - 2011-01-03
About ten years ago I bought two harmony guitars at a house sale for $20 apiece! The 1966 H74 with bigsby has perfect action all the way up the neck and sounds great through a small Fender Champ amp. The other one is a H34 double cutaway with moustache pickups mounted atop white plastic platforms. Both are in great shape and play well. The H34 is just missing it's whammy bar. My brother loves this one for rhythm. - Alex - 2011-10-25
Mine is a brown-to-yellow tobaccoburst example with the stock Bigsby and pickguard, I think about a '61 or '62, in generally excellent condition, with (what I would describe as) the chrome 'S'-cover over goldtone embossed-foil, nonadjustable pickups, fixed-mounted on height-compensated wooden pedastals. Can't remember anymore exactly where or when I got it (used) or how much I paid, but it would have been relatively cheap, probably $100 at most. It came with what I assumed was the original psuedo-tweed, green-lined cardboard case, which unfortunately has since begun going to pieces. The only unoriginal aspect is that somewhere along the line, the wooden bridge was retrofitted with a vintage Gibson ABR-1 with the white-nylon saddles, which works great with the Bigsby and is likely an improvement over the original bridge. This is simply a fantastic sounding guitar through almost any period-appropriate tube combo amp. Some of my favorite pickups of any guitar I own -- strong and clear response while still letting the strings vibrate very freely, with tons of tone and explosive dynamics. It's alive! Plays fine, and despite not being constructed to quite the same quality level overall, this guit easily holds its own vs. my other 60's thinline hollowbodies w/Bigsbys, a '64 Gretsch 6120 Nashville and a '65 Guild Starfire III. The Tele-inspired cutaway arrangement on a thinline HB is a genius styling touch that I've never seen on any other similar axe. - Jeff - 2014-01-17
I just got a beautiful Harmony. I really don't know the specific model. Any buddy who could help me? Thanks! - Knox - 2014-05-02
Picked up one of these on eBay and absolutely love it. Great vintage blues vibe going on! Mine is a '64 according to the date on the DeArmond pickups. Does anyone happen to know that the exact fretboard radius is on these things? - Mat Grinnell - 2014-09-29
Picked up one of these at my local pawn shop/music store for less than $400. Was beat to crap. Terrible belt rash, cracks and crackling in the finish, paint missing, the whole nine yards. Totally original other than the knobs and tuners which had been replaced. It is temperamental, finicky, and downright mean at times. To this day it is still my favorite guitar and I own a '89 Gibson Les Paul Classic and '67 Harmony Rocket. Wouldn't trade it for anything. - Cheyn - 2017-06-10
I got mine from my aunt about 25 years ago. I think it was made in '73 based on the numbers inside so it is actually older than me. I love this guitar and obtained it because I needed something to play in jazz band in high school.
I love the rich tone that I get when playing this guitar. I prefer to play with flat-wound strings so the tone is even deeper than when i play with round-wound.
My guitar is in very good shape and was only missing the pick guard when I got it. I was not aware until researching here, however that it should also have the tremolo. I am going to have to research and obtain an original part to replace it. - Cheyn - 2017-06-14
Ok. I am a bit confused and very mistaken. I believe my Harmony is an H74 but it is stamped H73. It looks exaclty just like all of the other pictures shown for H74 on this page and it is definitely not the Roy Smeck, so I assume they must have mislabeled it on the assembly line.
I then checked inside again and saw this is an S-64 stamp which makes it even older than I thought. Nice! - David Jacobs - 2018-10-14
I have owned an H74 since the late seventies.It was hanging on the wall of an appliance store. The guitar had fallen from its hanger and the owner was sick over it. He sold it to me for $60. It has a small scratch and a dent near the end post. This guitar has great tone! I always liked it but it took me many years to realize how sensitive this guitar is to gripping too tight. It will sound like the intonation is out or the strings are bad. Loosen the grip and it sounds great!! The pickups have unique sound. A friend put a slide to it and said 'This is the sound!!'.
- S. Logan - 2019-12-17
I have one of these, but in black. It also has a different neck joint and four bolts on the neck. Not sure if its the same model number. it has all the checking and such. - Kevin Sabariego - 2020-05-31
I'm from Barcelona. I was lucky to find an H74 in Spain 5 years ago, I 'm in love with my instrument. I've had a few guitars but this one is a jewel.
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