1960s Harmony H173 "Classic" Classical Guitar




Unlike their competitor Kay's "classical" guitars of the 1960s (which were ladder-braced and clumsy), the Harmony classical guitars of the same time actually are built along "Spanish" lines -- with light fan bracing and a classical-style, D-shaped neck profile with flat fretboard. This gives them a surprisingly-good voice. I was pretty impressed with this one's sound after I finished work on it -- it's round, sweet, and full -- but not extra-boomy like some classicals can be. The birch back and sides lend a plainspoken feel to the voice, too, which gives it a friendly, "folk guitar" aesthetic.

Work included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, cleaning, and a new set of LaBella 900 Gold (these have polished basses) strings. Action is bang-on at 3/32" overall at the 12th fret. The neck had a little warp to it, so the level/dress removed that via shaving the frets down -- therefore the frets nearest the nut and nearest the 12th fret are a little lower than the rest. It plays nicely but I mention it for completeness' sake.

Scale length: 25 1/4"
Nut width: 2"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/4"
Body length: 18 3/4"
Lower bout width: 14 3/4"
Waist width: 9 1/2"
Upper bout width: 11"
Side depth at endpin: 3 7/8"
Top wood: solid spruce
Back/sides wood: solid birch
Neck wood: poplar
Bracing type: fan, lightly-cut
Fretboard: ebonized maple/pearwood, synthetic nut
Bridge: rosewood, synthetic saddle
Neck feel: medium D-shape with flattened (classical-style) rear, flat board

Condition notes: zero cracks! There's general usewear throughout, though, with minor scratches and some playwear here and there all over. The guitar is entirely original, however, and the finish looks good overall.






Like a lot of Harmony boxes at the time, this one has neat tortoise binding.




I like the aluminum shafts that these old '60s classical tuners have -- it beats the plastic oversized ones that most classicals use... that tend to crack-up and irritate the heck out of me.








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Comments

Marhoff said…
Hi, i have the exact same guitar purchased in 1969/1970. I recently started taking guitar lessons with it and was told that it was a beginners guitar. Correct me if i am wrong but back in 1970 it was not considered a beginners guitar. More like intermediate , and bought at a music store for around $150 to 250 which in today’s dollars is around $1000. I thought i had a pretty nice guitar back in the day. Was it a beginners guitar back in 1970? Thanks for reading this.
November 18, 2024 at 1:40 PM
Dave D said…
I also have vintage h173 classical from 60 s or ? Mom paid 25.00 at garage sale in 1979. Lots of players have wanted to buy, no sale, have 80s or 90s.yamaha classical.pretty but not even close with warmth and tone. Need to tune whenever i take out of case but will never sell.1000.00 will never replace old wood and craftsmanship. Vintage market harmony,silvertone, etc has come up.made in usa always good sign.as for everything condition is priority.
July 14, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Unknown said…
My Father-in-law had one of these he'd bought in LA, probably in the 60s. Exact same in every detail as pictured here; the label has faded to the point where I can't read the number though. He never played it when I knew him (there were pictures of him playing it when he was young) and it stayed in the guest room closet. When I would come to visit I'd pull it out and strum on it a bit. Didn't really think much about it, other than it was an old beat-up beginner guitar; (has some wear/dents/nicks) mostly because the strings were probably as old as the guitar itself. One visit I bought a new set of strings and put them on (turned around for a lefty.) Boy was I surprised! It played and sounded better than any classical guitar I'd ever owned - not that I'm a great player or ever had really high end guitars - but been around enough to know this one was a little special. Searched the web and found a few sites like this to provide some detail on the specs. Thanks!
August 1, 2026 at 11:18 AM
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