Harmony Patrician
 

For some reason I think I want one of these. I am following quite a few on Reverb.com. Prices are from $1,000 down to $400. Most are around $500.
I cannot believe the sound of this one..https://youtu.be/Ow0JeGJnNls.

That guitar just blows me away. Tell me I should not buy one...

OK, you shouldn't buy one. To my ear, it's thin and tinny with just about no bottom, and I don't think it's the recording, because I've heard that kind of sound in person from similar guitars.

It's not exactly the Patrician you are hearing here - it's the "good archtop" sound. Projection, clarity, sustain, etc.

The mic on this recording is very hot; probably a large dia. condenser. Part of what you are hearing is the mic.

The Patrician was made over quite a span of years. They are definitely one of the more quality crated Harmony’s Some were all Mahogany-top and neck included. They definitely used solid wood tops on these/pressed. Good thing they must have of been popular as there usually are quite few to choose from. If you can snag a nice one for $500 that is not bad move. That Patrician in the Video is a 1960s. The top on it is Spruce not Cedar!!! It Sounds pretty good— you can tell brand spanking new strings are on it! The solid pressed Arched toppers typically are very bright anyway. In a week or two that guitar would sound much better-more mid focused as the bright edge of new strings wear off. A fully carved solid Ebony bridge on those really brings out the tone!

…I’ve had couple of em….I actually have one laying around in need of a neck reset…I’ve never seen one that didn’t need a neck reset so either buy one with the reset done or prepare to have it done….I had an all mahogany one that was heavy and not very resonant….and I had a spruce/mahogany one that was considerably more resonant…..fwiw I have found the old Kay archtops with the pressed solid tops and laminated maple back and sides to be more resonant and louder…..more lively….but they have the same neck reset issues….

Hi, I have three archtops. A '34 Gibson L4, (f-hole) a 2007 Eastman AR805, and a '60s Harmony Monterey.

The Gibson Is similar in tonality to a '30s 16" L5, the Eastman is a far more open soundiing - almost like a flatop, and the Harmony is somewhere between the two.
Mass produced, budget priced, pressed top and solid as a rock and would perform pretty much as the Gibson might in a dance band.

see :

and

My repair guy said he had no idea what he would find if he took the neck off

Those old Harmony and Kay Arch-tops are a traditional Dovetail Neck joint like nearly all older Guitars. Though many old Guitars need neck Re-set— You can find some those higher end Harmony and Kay Arch-tops with decent neck angles.

[QUOTE=poopsidoo;7014561]My repair guy said he had no idea what he would find if he took the neck off. He really did not want to do it QUOTE]

Why do they need neck resets? I. E. What specifically is failing/moving?

I'm interested because it is a road that I may be about to travel.

My Harmony Patrician is a 60's one with truss rod. It was in pretty clean shape when I got it - I assume because it hadn't played much over the years after the neck got loose. You could wiggle the neck in the pocket, but glue residue was keeping it from coming out.

I did the reset myself, and also cleaned up the fretboard radius while refretting it with better wire. The fretboards on those I've seen always have coarse sanding marks running from side to side.

Acoustically, it was interesting but I didn't warm up to it as I had hoped. It was part of my learning journey with archtops and I still have it. I've mentioned before that it is stalled partway through an electric conversion to be more like an early non-cut ES-150 style. I'll have more use for it that way, and switched to an Eastman AR-810-7 for my acoustic archtop tomfoolery.

Good quality bones to work with, though a neck reset is likely in the cards and you have to like VERY beefy necks. Peaky sound that can be cool if you're looking for that.