Vintage Acoustic Guitar

circa 1960's Harmony Monterey Leader H950 archtop guitar

This is an auction for a rare Harmony Monterey Leader H950 that dates to 1963. It is one of Harmony's more higher end designs with a cool reddish finish with black 'faux flames' on it and a super cool Art Deco headstock design. It has a steel reinforced truss rod and Brazilian Rosewood bridge. It has an ebony fingerboard with real pearl dots. Pretty deluxe stuff for a 'catalog guitar' is it not? Anyways, these were less common in the 60's and I was happy to get this one. Look below see the date stamp and factory codes in the photos and you will notice that there is another factory code that is somewhat hard to date but visible through the other F hole. I have not seen as many of these Monterey Leaders in general as you see of the regular Monterey series, and although this one came to me after some seriously extensive repairs it is still a fine guitar. A lot has been done to make this one play and operate properly again and I glad to be offering up to you today.

I picked up this one from a shop that I do a lot of dealing with in the Midwest. It had a somewhat sorry story to it from what I gathered. It was originally a local musician's who bought it new and played it since new with an aftermarket pickup attached to the top (you can see some of the holes and shadow on the top in the photos below). The gentleman's daughter then inherited it after he passed away last winter and was on her way into the music store I got it from when she slipped on the ice while carrying it. She was fine after helped back up to her feet but the guitar was only in a gig bag and suffered a fracture at the heel. According to the staff at the store she became hysterical and in the end the owner of the shop felt so bad that he would fix it for free (after all it was his icy sidewalk). They put a lot of work into fixing the neck area (you can see the splits in the heel) and dressed the frets and strung it up so that it played well again. They called the daughter with a big smile and left a message. Time passed. And finally after about 10 months of sitting on the guitar they called and it seems the daughter said she was not interested in seeing the guitar anymore and they should sell it. It reminded her too much of her father, it was his favorite (and main) guitar and she was having a very hard time with his death. Anyone who has lost someone close to them can relate I would guess. But I think she saw so many her father sit down with it all through her life and it was too much for her.

It was a couple months later when I was passing through and saw it hanging off to the side of the repair area and asked about it. I heard the story and was moved by it. I figured if anyone could find a place for it to be loved and enjoyed again, it was me. Anyone who has watched my auction knows what I do. I have had hundreds of stories pass through my hands like this one. I have taken in a lot of orphans in my day and always have room for another to come in from the storm and get a hot meal. Most folks would probably spare you all these details and just play used car salesman and say, "Look at the beautiful new rubber on this sweet ride!" as they kicked the tires. I call BS on that. Is the story of this guitar going to turn someone off? Probably. But I figure that if an instrument has a history and I happen to find out about it I will be damned if I do not share it. I think it also honors the previous owner and his time on Earth playing it. And it still has a long life to live, so why not look at it in terms of redemption for this guitar? That is the way I see it. Someone loved its hole life up to now for a reason. And I would guess that is enough to give it a second chance. I guess that is why I do this!

Despite the recent rough history this one has had it looks as though it was pretty well maintained up to that point. The guitar looks to have had a refret at least once in its life. The guys I got it from had their repair person dress the frets down some to even it out. You can see how they put the heel back together. They seem to have completely reset the neck and did some touch up/filler around the cracked areas there. Pretty solid looking repair for what happened to it. It plays pretty well right now, but is a little buzzy in a couple of spots. It could probably use a more thorough fret dress is my guess, but I get along with fine like it is. The action is pretty low and comfortable for sure. The original Kluson made tuners still work well. It has the original Brazilian Rosewood bridge on it (which looks to have been glued in place at one point from the original owner). The aftermarket Kent pickup it once had was gone when I got it but in a twist of irony I sold one just like it a couple of months ago. If only my time machine had been working then! Oh, well. You can see that it has a slight bit of deformation to the top around the F holes like a lot of 60's Harmonys got. Nothing that effects any function or looks major, but a cosmetic thing to point out. The original bone nut is in place. As is the original tailpiece. Cosmetically it is well used as you'd expect. Take a good look over the photos below. It has a fair amount of finish checking to the finish as well as some nicks, dings, scrapes, and wear as you might expect for its age. It does have something on the back that looks to be almost paint flecks or something, with a splotch on one side. Look at the photos. I dunno. For all I know this could have happened in the repair shop of the store, as its back was facing out there. It probably would come off easily with some elbow grease but it is pretty hard to see in the first place. Nothing too surprising, though. It is still a good looker! You can see it is shiny even with the nicks, wear, finish checking and dings of its life.

The guitar plays nicely with lower action as I mentioned. You can see in the photos below a measurement of the string height at the 12th fret on the low E string as well as a photo of the nut width. Take a look for yourself. It is pretty even to play overall. It does have some buzzy quality as I stated that some of the notes (again from the poorly dressed frets and low action I would guess) but it plays well enough without a completely dead fret I could find. I tried on one of the soundfiles below to hit the single notes hard as I could to demonstrate this buzziness at its worst. Check that one out down there. The frets have some wear to them that probably necessitated this job done to it, but I think it might do well just to have its frets dressed slightly to get rid of this by someone who knows what they are doing. Seems like what was done on this was more of a quick job not a detail job. Or just enjoy it as it is. You can hear some of its sound below. It really does a great old time Blues or Americana sort of sound and would be great for a soulful jazz or Alt Country vibe, too. It has a super fat, meaty, and wide V neck Overall, it is a ton of fun sitting around with this guitar. It is super easy to get around on and has none of the difficulty that a guitar has before all of this work is done. Give a look to the photos below to see a shot of both the string height at the 12th fret and the nut width measurement.

Enough gibber-jabber! Listen to some audio of me playing this with a medium pick from about 3 feet away. Click on each link for a different soundfile of this guitar...

...one with a nice Alt Country/Americana feel...

...some scales that are smooth and easy to play...

...a little ballsy rockabilly rhythm guitar...

...a rich vocal sound with bare fingers on this gentle one...

...a 40's jazzy blues flavored one..

...open chords with a big rich sound...

...a mix of bare fingers and a pick on this old school blues one...

...some single notes all the way up and down the neck and me trying to make it buzzy as possible...

...nice sound on this one in open G tuning...

...a little swing era progression...

...finally, a rapidly strummed Old Time/Bluegrass influenced one...

This vintage Harmony Monterey Leader does not have a case but I can include one for some extra money if someone is interested starting at $35. Either way I will make sure it arrives at your door as safely as possible from my end. I take my time packing guitars because I have seen what happens when you don't (yes, I buy stuff on eBay sometimes, too!). So I will do my best to have this experience be a sappy love story for you, not a grisly horror movie. Ok? I have shipped thousands of guitars in my life and will be sure this baby makes it in one piece. No matter if you live in Australia, Antwerp, or Akron, OH. And did I mention that it is starting at 99 cents?

For USA bidders I take Paypal and payments mailed in, but no personal checks (although eBay is gong to Paypal only soon!). Paypal only on international bidders, please email me for your shipping rates oustide the 48 continental US states. Payments must be made or confirmed within 48 hours (unless otherwise stated by me personally) or I move to the next bidder on the list. This is AS IS, folks. This guitar is not warrantied in any way due to its condition and age. Bidders be warned. Auction is as is, no returns whatsoever. There. I said it twice. Doesn't mean I don't love you. Just want you to hear it. I hope this goes to a happy home! All sounds, songs, and images are copyrighted material, so pirate them at your own peril. Seriously, I have a team of trained rabid attack dogs that do nothing but cruise the internet looking for interlopers to feed upon. You probably aren't even reading this, but if you are...beware their wrath. Anyways...feel free to ask questions! Email me if you want to see any more pictures, I have tons of them that probably did not make it into the massive picture show below because I am nuts about this guitar! Thanks!

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