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Family : Lower end archtop

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Original catalog description

[1940 catalog]
Auditorium size arched quitar. Inlaid at top edqe with strikinq woodblock marquetry. Both edges and finqerboard bound with white celluloid. Nickel plated patent heads. Adjustable bridge, heavy black celluloid guardplate Back and sides are finished in mahoqany, highlighted and polished; qrained to resemble curly maple; top grained to resemble spruce. Each : $20.00

Original price

  1940 : $20.00

Verified production year(s) : 1940-1945
others years possible, not verified.

5 comments | Add your comment !

• Hank To Hendrix - 2005-12-07
  These guitars are made from a combination of wonderful woods! From the Brazilian Rosewood fingerboards/tail pieces to the rock maple back and sides and solid spruce tops. Many made during the wars years utilized this tail piece design(wood) and have no truss rods because of metal restriction needed for the war effort. The finish is an early version of "Photo Flame", tiger stripes air brushed often over "Birdseye maple" back and side sets! Wood bound "F" holes, tops and back. Today these often require neck sets, board dresses and refretting to bring them back to life, and are well worth restoring!!!!!
• Snapcase - 2006-02-21
  H954 seems to be an evolution of H955 Broadways. The earlier model has a somewhat smaller body, really closer to the H50 and H51 family models. It's said these guitars are non-electrified H50 sisters. They usually have a spruce top and maple or birch bottom and sides. A really great and welcomed thing for a mid priced guitar, but nothing unusual in this era guitars. H954 have mostly all birch bodies. My '64 H954 has a nice and resonant one piece molded birch top. Birch is a great tone-wood. It gives a nice resonant high volume with a rich midrange projection and solid bottom. Is not as brilliant and janglier as spruce. In comparison spruce have less pronounced singing mids. The great birch drawback is dryness. It tends to crack while ageing if humidity is not controlled. This is the reason why many old Harmony guitars shows cracks in their bottom and tops. Specially in solid ones. I cannot say which model is better, each one have its partcularities. Don't be blinded by solid spruce, solid birch gives a terrific tone too, a different one but great and desirable anyway. The best deal is having one guitar of both models. Get both and you still save some money if comparing their prices to Gibsons. Trust me, these Harmony guitars hold comparions against mid-prized vintage Gibsons or Gretsches perfectly well.
• HARMONICAT - 2007-08-14
  I guess I was wrong...I thought I had the earlier version of the B'WAy. But,upon further review...
  i have the H955. It has a wooden tailpiece. Stamp inside says manufactuing date was F44.
  Someone on this site said that metal tailpieces were not on the WW2-era Broadway's because of the War.
  One reason why archtop acoustics were used so much in the radio days was because they reproduce mid-range frequencies better than flattops and in the radio of the '30's and 40's midrange was the frequency with the flattest response. archtop guitars were perfetly suited for the techno level of radio in the "days of yesteryear".
  My Broadway was my main guitar for awhile-i had it next to my bed and for years i would play it-but it's sort of retired now-i have a Solera spanish nylon string that is my main player on my way to dream-land...the Broadway does not have a truss rod and the neck is bowed/warped slightly way down near the 10-12th frets.(which i never went to anyway).
  great website Francois!
• François (webmaster) - 2007-08-15
  Today I have edited a bit Snap's comment, because he wrote, in 2006, that some models had plywood bodies. But we learnt a lot together since, and I'm sure he would agree today that ALL Harmony USA acoustics (except some very late 1974-75 models) are built with solid woods. Often all birch, but solid.
• AArcher, from Georgia USA - 2008-03-19
  I have just acquired a 1942 Broadway (1800H955 S-42), sans hardware, which I am trying to research to get back into playing condition; I had a beloved Harmony archtop when I was in highschool, and the "middle aged crazies" made me want one again.
  What a beautiful guitar! Almost all of the wood marquetry is still intact, and what little is loosened is still present & repairable.
  It was apparently manufactured early enough during the war that it was made with the metal fixed tailpiece, missing now but evident from the marks in the finish and the four screw holes.
  It is also missing the endpin, which I assume was probably made from bone, to match the nut... I have not been able to find out information about that part.
  It is obvious someone took care of this guitar. I plan to do the same... and will send a photo for your site once luthier Randy Wood has done his job, if you like.