Harmony Guitars – the former catalog brand that was reprised in 2018 – looks set to begin production of US-made acoustic guitars for the first time since the mid-’70s.
The guitar manufacturer’s parent company, Vista Musical Instruments, is currently advertising for an acoustic luthier at its production facility at 225 Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Both Harmony and Heritage Guitars (the latter of which is also owned by Vista) operate from the address – and neither currently produces acoustics. However, as Guitar.com points out, Harmony is the more likely candidate, given its extensive history as an acoustic manufacturer.
Indeed, Harmony reacquired the Stella Guitars brand earlier this year, which would make an ideal home for its new acoustic builds.
“We are thrilled to bring the Harmony and Stella brands back together under the same roof,” said Caldecott Music Group (Vista's parent company) CEO Meng Ru Kuok, at the time. While nothing is confirmed yet, that “roof” now looks very likely to be 225 Parsons Street.
Harmony has a long acoustic legacy, both with and without Stella. It was founded in 1892, initially producing small-bodied acoustics and, in 1916, was bought by catalog giant Sears and continued to grow across the following decades, eventually becoming the US’ largest guitar manufacturer.
In 1965 alone, it is thought to have produced and sold somewhere in the region of 350,000 instruments. Harmony also bought and operated the Stella brand (for the first time) in 1939, and its builds were often marketed under other brand names.
Given its previous production numbers and numerous brands, Harmony’s guitars were extremely widespread and have had many fans over the years, from Elvis, Howlin’ Wolf, The Rolling Stones, and Jimmy Page – who used his Harmony Sovereign on Stairway To Heaven – through to contemporary players like Dan Auerbach.
Harmony (and Stella) eventually went out of business in the mid-’70s, following the end of the post-Beatles guitar buying boom.
Harmony was relaunched in 2018, when Vista bought the rights to the name, and introduced an evolving line of US- and Korean-made electric guitars, including the H72.
Five years on, it has reacquired Stella and, it seems, is ready to fire up production on USA acoustics once more.
