I regret letting go of the Harmony H-71 that I bought for $45 at a yard sale. I spent many hours and a little cash restoring it. I know Harmony is synonymous with the cheap japanese guitars found in the Sears Catalog, but this one was sort of rare. It was one of the last ones made in the US in 1972 before everything was sent over to Japan and Korea. When I bought it the finish was hazy, checked, and with just a little bit of spray paint cast off on it. The pickups still worked, but the pots were scratchy as all heck. I paid a local shop to rewire and re-pot the thing. I cleaned it, buffed it and played it from time to time. It was a really cool semi-hollow jazz guitar like a 335. Silly me traded it for a 2006 Squier Standard Fat Strat at a GC. A few weeks later I found out the H-72 sold to a collector for over $900 and now they go for well over a grand depending on condition. If only I had held on to that one just a bit longer, and knew collectors paid more than GC does. Harmony recently re-issued the H-72 and are selling them at just under 700. I don't like the looks of the new one though. they changed the headstock from the Gibson 3x3 to a Fender inline 6, and re arranged the way the F-Hole looks. It is quite hard finding the old ones out there. If I do see one I may have to snag it.
