Harmony has unveiled the H62 as the latest addition to its Reissue Series. This new range of guitars and guitar amps plays a two-part role: honoring the company’s gear-crafting legacy, and updating its instruments with a modern feel whilst retaining their vintage visage.
The firm calls the H62 a “jazz dark horse” inspired by a ‘50s era dominated by jazz and blues, with the hollow-bodied guitar built for “deliciously warm tones that snap”.
It draws those tones from Harmony-designed pickups, with their silver-plated design offering a single row of poles each.
The build delivers a twin F-hole spruce top and flame maple body, adorned with a classy, vintage-looking two-tone sunburst finish. Cream binding and a tortoiseshell pickguard help accentuate its styling.
Those aesthetic flourishes are furthered with the inlaid Harmony logo and fleur-de-lis motif found on the headstock. Four black Bakelite knobs, meanwhile, have been recreated to “retain all the vintage charm they bring” and are reintroduced for this reissue.
Their functionality offers individual volume and tone controls for each pickup, whilst a three-way selector switch with a diamond tortoiseshell switch plate sits on the guitar’s lower bout.
Harmony has opted for a C-shaped set-neck construction, striving for the holy trinity of comfort, sustain, and stability, as the luthier looks to bring the vintage design in line with contemporary wants.
This sets the scene for a rosewood fretboard with 20 medium jumbo frets and pearloid block inlays. It offers a 25.5” scale length, 12” radius, and 43mm neck width.
A Tune-O-Matic-style bridge with a rosewood base and a striking chrome lyre trapeze tailpiece continue the bygone-era look of the guitar, which is manufactured in Korea.
Finally, the H62 Reissue is rounded off with chrome 'butterbean' vintage tuners and nickel hardware, which again hark back to its '50s origins.
The freshly redesigned H62 joins Harmony's Reissue Series roster, which already includes the H72 Reissue – another Korean build that is highly evocative of the American-made 1966 original.
A reissue of its 8418 amplifier is its only amp to have been revamped thus far.
“We have successfully launched modern guitars, [but] the classic appeal and essence of the Harmony H62 is still deeply cherished,” assures David Nam Le, General Manager at Vista Musical Instruments. “We take immense pride in reintroducing this iconic mode. It is not only a nod to Harmony’s rich design history, but also a step toward building the brand further.”
Harmony was established in 1892 and has often been a key part of the humble beginnings of musicians embarking on their instrument-learning journey. It started out building archtop and flat-top guitars, ukeleles, banjos, and violins, but has been keenly establishing a new era for the brand since 2018 when Harmony was relaunched.
This time last year, Harmony had just reacquired Stella Guitars, bringing the brand under the BandLab Technologies umbrella. Stella Guitars, a popular maker of affordable and beginner-friendly acoustics, was first purchased by Harmony back in 1939.
Available exclusively from the Harmony website, the H62 Reissue costs $849.
For more information, head to Harmony.
