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Harmony Bass?

Lowlou17

Lowlou17

Nov 4, 2023
94
204
Florida
#1
Hey gang
So, my brother is moving out of state and he asked me to hold onto a bass he had when he was a kid. It's a Harmony H75MR.
I've never heard of Harmony. This thing weighs more than a ton of bricks, ho-ly crap!
11.5 pounds! And very bottom heavy, it's a neck breaker! It has that 70s look. The neck has a nice size to it. I'll play it some tonight. I don't remember him ever having a bass!
Are these things any good? I told him it's probably a nice wall hanger but the wall has to be well built to hold that weight. I can't get over how heavy and unbalanced it is!
 
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#2
I have my grandpa's blacksmithing anvil. Not some twee little precious thing, but a real blacksmith's forging anvil. maybe 2' high, 3' long, north of 350 pounds. I dated someone once who suggested I "hang it on the wall as a decoration". hehe, I just had to say "you don't understand" lol
 
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#3
The bass in question is not a real Chicago Harmony. That Harmony went under around 1969, along with a lot of other Chicago brands (Kay, Valco). Your bass will (at the earliest) be an early seventies product that likely may be more useful for weight-training than as a musical instrument. I once picked up a post-collapse Japanese Kay P-bass. It too was a boat anchor. At the time, this bass was listed in JCPenney catalogs.
 
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#4
Lowlou17 said:
Hey gang
So, my brother is moving out of state and he asked me to hold onto a bass he had when he was a kid. It's a Harmony H75MR.
I've never heard of Harmony. This thing weighs more than a ton of bricks, ho-ly crap!
11.5 pounds! And very bottom heavy, it's a neck breaker! It has that 70s look. The neck has a nice size to it. I'll play it some tonight. I don't remember him ever having a bass!
Are these things any good? I told him it's probably a nice wall hanger but the wall has to be well built to hold that weight. I can't get over how heavy and unbalanced it is!
Click to expand...
https://reverb.com/item/28979706-vintage-harmony-bass-guitar-model-h75-mr-1970s-metallic-red

I'm guessing this solid body since you're referring to weight.
This? Or something else?
 
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#6
GretschWretch said:
The bass in question is not a real Chicago Harmony. That Harmony went under around 1969, along with a lot of other Chicago brands (Kay, Valco). Your bass will (at the earliest) be an early seventies product that likely may be more useful for weight-training than as a musical instrument. I once picked up a post-collapse Japanese Kay P-bass. It too was a boat anchor. At the time, this bass was listed in JCPenney catalogs.
Click to expand...
:laugh::laugh:
 
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#8
GretschWretch said:
The bass in question is not a real Chicago Harmony. That Harmony went under around 1969, along with a lot of other Chicago brands (Kay, Valco). Your bass will (at the earliest) be an early seventies product that likely may be more useful for weight-training than as a musical instrument. I once picked up a post-collapse Japanese Kay P-bass. It too was a boat anchor. At the time, this bass was listed in JCPenney catalogs.
Click to expand...

He called me this morning and I asked him where he got it. He said he bought it at JC Penny.
 
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#10
Lowlou17 said:
I told him if nothing else, keep it by the bed for personal protection!
Click to expand...

No, no, no! This bass is far too heavy for that; he could never bring it around in time. Years ago the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) determined that bat speed rather than bat weight had more influence on how far a ball was hit.

For home defense your brother needs a bass that is short and relatively light. A Glarry would do except its body wood is not resilient enough to withstand hard blows. A Multivox Marvel would be perfect, and those things are as near-indestructible as a Fender.
 
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#11
A friend has a Vogue branded J bass that I think came from the same factory. Also, uh, "substantial".

I suspect MIK. If the saddles are blocky and brass, almost certainly is.

They're hit or miss. With a decent setup, my friend's is actually quite nice. If yours is a hit, it should be on par with a better squire. If it's a miss, on par with a lesser squier with the weight of 3 or 4 of same.
 
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#15
Lowlou17 said:
Hey gang
So, my brother is moving out of state and he asked me to hold onto a bass he had when he was a kid. It's a Harmony H75MR.
I've never heard of Harmony. This thing weighs more than a ton of bricks, ho-ly crap!
11.5 pounds! And very bottom heavy, it's a neck breaker! It has that 70s look. The neck has a nice size to it. I'll play it some tonight. I don't remember him ever having a bass!
Are these things any good? I told him it's probably a nice wall hanger but the wall has to be well built to hold that weight. I can't get over how heavy and unbalanced it is!
Click to expand...
There is a certain charm to those 70's era import basses that some still appreciate. I had a Pan copy of a Jazz bass as well as an Aria Pro II copy of a Ripper that I often reminisce about fondly.

LowendG said:
I'd go with a Steiny L2. Besides, the intruder will probably think it's an actual weapon when you whip it out.
Click to expand...
I nearly missed a flight while security wasted time trying to figure out where the bullets loaded and the agent just knew that the flip our leg was a trigger. Luckily another security guard knew better.
 
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#17
GretschWretch said:
For a brief while in the very early seventies, Pan collaborated with Alembic.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...
My Pan was not one of those or I would still have it. :) Mine was pretty extensively modified as it was turned into a fretless and had a custom bridge pickup from Seymour Duncan* and a Shadow piezo bridge. That bass served me well for over a decade until I got a Peavey foundation FL . The pickup was essentially a Quarter Pounder stack, it never went into production so I use a Jazz Stack V on my basses now.
 
#18
GretschWretch said:
No, no, no! This bass is far too heavy for that; he could never bring it around in time. Years ago the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) determined that bat speed rather than bat weight had more influence on how far a ball was hit.

For home defense your brother needs a bass that is short and relatively light. A Glarry would do except its body wood is not resilient enough to withstand hard blows. A Multivox Marvel would be perfect, and those things are as near-indestructible as a Fender.
Click to expand...
Bat speed rules. OK now we can get into the whole aluminum vs wood thing….maybe a Kramer is the best bass for self-defense.
 
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#19
GretschWretch said:
No, no, no! This bass is far too heavy for that; he could never bring it around in time. Years ago the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) determined that bat speed rather than bat weight had more influence on how far a ball was hit.

For home defense your brother needs a bass that is short and relatively light. A Glarry would do except its body wood is not resilient enough to withstand hard blows. A Multivox Marvel would be perfect, and those things are as near-indestructible as a Fender.
Click to expand...
Tip your servers well, Wretchy is here all week! Ba-ding-bish!
:laugh::roflmao::D
:thumbsup:
 

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