A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Yesterday I paid $42 for this 1960s Made in USA Harmony H-162. I wasn’t in the market for an acoustic, but when I come across stuff like this I can’t not buy it.

The specs are something like a Martin 000 on paper, with a solid mahogany back and sides, ladder-bracing, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and tortoise bindings. The top is either solid spruce or cedar, but I’m not familiar enough with acoustics to say which.

It’s all original and is in pretty good condition. There are some small pieces of the binding that are chipped, the truss rod cover has a nick in one corner, and there’s some minor scuffs on the top. This guitar has a simplistic yet elegant charm.

As far as it's voice, it has a warm, midsy, very expressive tone. It plays superb at the nut, and is also good up to about the 12th fret. But who plays higher than that on an H-162 anyways?

It tickles me that somebody originally bought this guitar in a department store, maybe back when Kennedy was President, and it safely traveled through the past six decades to choose me as its newest custodian.

And it probably sold new for half (or less) than you paid for it.
My brother had a similar one back in the day, not a bad guitar for the era.

you'd do well to get solid top, back and sides for 10x that amount.
I am thinking its cedar topped. Looks like it, and is more popular in student level guitars. Top reaches full warmer tone sooner. Needs less concern for drying and cracking. So, I've read.

Nice! That's in amazingly good condition. It sounds like the neck is in good shape? The most common issue with these guitars seems to be needing a neck reset after several decades.

glasshand wrote: ↑Fri Feb 04, 2022 2:21 pm Nice! That's in amazingly good condition. It sounds like the neck is in good shape? The most common issue with these guitars seems to be needing a neck reset after several decades.

Yes, the neck is in great shape in terms of the frets. No warpage or twisting either. There's just the slightest bit of separation beginning between the bottom of the neck heel and the upper bout. It's not enough to even fit a guitar pick into, and I'm not sure if this small amount of movement is adversely effecting the action enough to justify a reset.