c.1973 Harmony H683 Rebel Hollowbody Electric Guitar

The great Harmony Database lists this as the '70s version of the H82G Rebel and the F-73 date stamp inside the stylized "f-hole" concurs. This is another guitar from the "Skanktone Collection" and one of four wild green electric guitars coming from that hoard. The burst on this one is a black to avocado type and makes me want to reach for the tomatillo-laced, green chile salsa.

Blah-blah aside, this is a really cool guitar. It sounds leaps and bounds better than it should and after much cleaning, re-hanging of the tailpiece, a fret level/dress, and a good setup, it plays absurdly fast and with authority. I like.

It's also something so crazy to look at, how can you not get noticed?

Unlike earlier Harmony hollowbodies, this has a laminate top and back for strength (a wise decision).

Why use a small truss rod cover when you can use a giant one? Original plastic nut, too.

Faux-pearl dots in a dyed-hardwood board. I'm betting the neck is birch or poplar, too, though it does have a nice (functioning) truss rod. This has a 24 1/8" scale which makes it a breeze to play.

Heck, yuss, hello there "moustache" adjustable gold foils! You sound so, oh so, good. You really do. Clean, sparkly, powerful, and fun.

And your yellowed old binding? Looks good.

Adjustable, Mustang-y, Jazzmaster-y bridge.

Sliders for volume and tone...? I guess so! After flicking all these controls back and forth for a while any crackle or dead spots started clearing up. I'm so thankful not to have to replace them...

So, this is supposedly a whammy-equipped guitar, but the original mounting was, to put it plainly... idiotic (the whole thing was half-loose with lifted screws on arrival).

Four small screws can hold string tension from an unblocked top, but not a darn whammy! So, I rehung this tail slightly forward (away from where the original holes towards the bridge) and removed the whammy bar so problems wouldn't happen again. I suppose if anyone really wanted a whammy on this they could just hang a Bigsby in the traditional manner (from over the side, tailpiece-style).

While there's some use-wear throughout, this is a pretty clean guit for a Harmony, no cracks, no worries.

Lubed tuners = happy.

This guitar was originally part of the Skanktone Guitars collection. Skanktone was run by Joe Schenkman of right-here-in-Rochester, Vermont, and specialized in fun, funky, wonky, and wild old guitars (among other things). He amassed a very cool personal collection that's been off-and-on stored for a number of years and now a fair number of the quirky and fun vintage items are being sold through Antebellum. Thanks for sharing the toys, Joe!