NBD - 1966 Harmony H22

[Danny O Danny]

I've noticed in the last few years that several bassists I like have been playing these, and I like the sound they make. But they're not easy to come by and have become very expensive. I stumbled upon one in pretty good condition for a very good price, so I grabbed it. I'm having a lot of thumpy fun with it. These things are built like tanks. This one is missing the "batwing" pickguard (which I probably would have removed anyway, but might pick up a reproduction at some point) and the original guitar sized tuners were replaced somewhere along the line with bass tuners (upside down, in order to fit on the headstock). I might replace them with Gotoh Mini's for better aesthetics, but these function well. It sports flatwounds, of course. Playing with a pick gives a nice early Phil Lesh approximation. Playing with fingers is fun and bouncy, with surprising tonal variation depending on where the string is plucked. Right now my favorite sound is muting the bridge with my palm while playing with a pick. The neck is narrow, with no taper, but thick like a baseball bat. The gold foil pickup is loud! With the "toilet handle" pulled up the tone pot is bypassed and the treble is boosted. So far, I prefer the "toilet handle" down and the tone at about half way.

Any other Harmony players out there?

 

[Whale]

I don’t own a Harmony like yours, but any bass equipped with a “toilet handle” automatically rises to the top of my wish list.

 

[msb]

I love those batwing Harmonys.

 

[Mastermold]

I almost bought one of these a few times! Great hollow body tone, congrats!

 

[jim nolte]

The very first time my fingers touched a bass guitar was on that model way back when I was 14 years old in 1967, it was at my guitar playing friends house and I believe it was his Dads bass, picked it up and just started playing it and sort of blew my friend away because I knew nothing about playing bass but it just felt so natural to me, did it come with the pick guard ?, thanks for the memories, enjoy it , don’t see many of those around anymore !

 

[GretschWretch]

I would like to know more about those tuners. They strongly suggest every clover-leaf tuner from the sixties that was not used by Fender.

 

[Danny O Danny]

The very first time my fingers touched a bass guitar was on that model way back when I was 14 years old in 1967, it was at my guitar playing friends house and I believe it was his Dads bass, picked it up and just started playing it and sort of blew my friend away because I knew nothing about playing bass but it just felt so natural to me, did it come with the pick guard ?, thanks for the memories, enjoy it , don’t see many of those around anymore !

Who knows, this might be that very bass!

It didn't come with the pickguard, but I know where I can get one. I kind of dig it without the pickguard though. Some of the bassists I've seen playing these lately include Tal Wilkenfeld, John Stirratt (Wilco), and Zachariah Hicks (Josh Ritter).

 

[Danny O Danny]

I would like to know more about those tuners. They strongly suggest every clover-leaf tuner from the sixties that was not used by Fender.

Here's what the original tuners would have looked like...

It seems a pretty ubiquitous mod to replace them with proper bass tuners. I can't tell what the clover leaf tuners are that were put on mine, but they do look pretty old, and they're way too big for that headstock. I think a set of Gotoh GB707 bass tuners would be a better fit.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Great googamooga! I hear tons of 60's Brit blues/rock in my head just lookin' at that thang! What do the tuners look like from the back?

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[sylvanbass]

Man, those things sound sound so freaking good. I owned one that sounded fantastic, but was very hard to play. I was very fortunate to be able to use one of these that belonged to Alison Prestwood that was absolutely magical. We were talking about it and I just inquired about how she sets it up. She said she uses that bass several times a week on sessions here in Nashville, but after a couple weeks use she has to drop it off with the master Joe Glaser to tweak and has no idea what he does lol.

 

[JIO]

Who knows, this might be that very bass!

It didn't come with the pickguard, but I know where I can get one. I kind of dig it without the pickguard though. Some of the bassists I've seen playing these lately include Tal Wilkenfeld, John Stirratt (Wilco), and Zachariah Hicks (Josh Ritter).

I saw TW heading her own band here in SF at the Great American Music Hall and she played a Harmony hollow-body along with a blue Sadowsky J. Great show, loved her performance but I got the impression that the (relatively small) audience was mostly bass-players!

 

[Danny O Danny]

Great googamooga! I hear tons of 60's Brit blues/rock in my head just lookin' at that thang! What do the tuners look like from the back?

It's not a pretty sight.

 

[sylvanbass]

I saw TW heading her own band here in SF at the Great American Music Hall and she played a Harmony hollow-body along with a blue Sadowsky J. Great show, loved her performance but I got the impression that the (relatively small) audience was mostly bass-players!

I saw her play at the Ryman with Jeff Beck on her first tour with him. I was floored with her playing. I couldn't believe I was watching this teenage girl on stage with the legend. Been a fan ever since, and if she had a show in town, or within reasonable distance, I would be one of the many bass players in attendance lol. Love that YT clip the OP posted of her playing one of these and hadn't seen that video before.

That show at the Ryman was a who's who of musicians. I sat two rows behind Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn!

 

[JIO]

I saw her play at the Ryman with Jeff Beck on her first tour with him. I was floored with her playing. I couldn't believe I was watching this teenage girl on stage with the legend. Been a fan ever since, and if she had a show in town, or within reasonable distance, I would be one of the many bass players in attendance lol. Love that YT clip the OP posted of her playing one of these and hadn't seen that video before.

That show at the Ryman was a who's who of musicians. I sat two rows behind Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn!

That show sounded awesome! Yes, her talent is off-the-charts. I really enjoyed her heading her own band because it showed her future potential as a front-woman AND bass-player!

 

[JIO]

It's not a pretty sight.
View attachment 5169739

I realize they are most likely not original (and they are nice tuners), but I would reverse them to their correct orientation or source some original replacements. If the originals were the 'boxed' type - they commonly come up for sale on eBay/Reverb. (and work well enough) I guess it just depends on if you want a more "original" configuration, or not. (needless to say - it's your call )

 

[lunarpollen]

Fellow 1966 owner here... Mine doesn't have original tuners either, but it was common for them to be replaced with more robust tuners by owners who played them a lot. Replacement pickguards for this model are always available for cheap on eBay. I imagine finding a bridge would be much harder, but if the one on yours functions just fine, then there's no real need for a "proper" bridge (hell, it might even be better than the original bridge for all I know)

I have pretty heavy Bavarian flatwounds on mine... It currently serves as my main bass, and will be making its next public appearance tomorrow in Union City, CA, as my band has a gig there...

 

[lunarpollen]

The lack of neck taper is one of the main things I love about it... Playing palm-muted with a pick is probably my most common technique too, followed by palm-muted fingerstyle...

 

[JIO]

Fellow 1966 owner here... Mine doesn't have original tuners either, but it was common for them to be replaced with more robust tuners by owners who played them a lot. Replacement pickguards for this model are always available for cheap on eBay. I imagine finding a bridge would be much harder, but if the one on yours functions just fine, then there's no real need for a "proper" bridge (hell, it might even be better than the original bridge for all I know)

I have pretty heavy Bavarian flatwounds on mine... It currently serves as my main bass, and will be making its next public appearance tomorrow in Union City, CA, as my band has a gig there...

View attachment 5169784

I dig the blk/wht pg I can imagine the original tuners being sub-standard. Even the Japanese boxed-gear tuners from the late '60s were better (for basses) than open-gear (guitar) tuners which were installed on some basses.

 

[Mike Marshall]

I've noticed in the last few years that several bassists I like have been playing these, and I like the sound they make. But they're not easy to come by and have become very expensive. I stumbled upon one in pretty good condition for a very good price, so I grabbed it. I'm having a lot of thumpy fun with it. These things are built like tanks. This one is missing the "batwing" pickguard (which I probably would have removed anyway, but might pick up a reproduction at some point) and the original guitar sized tuners were replaced somewhere along the line with bass tuners (upside down, in order to fit on the headstock). I might replace them with Gotoh Mini's for better aesthetics, but these function well. It sports flatwounds, of course. Playing with a pick gives a nice early Phil Lesh approximation. Playing with fingers is fun and bouncy, with surprising tonal variation depending on where the string is plucked. Right now my favorite sound is muting the bridge with my palm while playing with a pick. The neck is narrow, with no taper, but thick like a baseball bat. The gold foil pickup is loud! With the "toilet handle" pulled up the tone pot is bypassed and the treble is boosted. So far, I prefer the "toilet handle" down and the tone at about half way.

Any other Harmony players out there?

View attachment 5169143

Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces used one and I believe Muff Winwood used one. Many west coast blues bassists in recent years have used them like Larry Taylor and Bill Stuve.

 

[Mastermold]

It's not a pretty sight.
View attachment 5169739

If you wanted to change them, the black painted headstock should be easy to plug, paint and blend those extra holes. Or you may just prefer keeping it modified as-is since it's part of the history. Either way, enjoy playing it!