Roy Smeck was the "Wizard of the Strings," a vaudeville and radio star who endorsed Harmony for decades, and the H73 is the double-cut thinline Harmony built to his spec from 1964 to 1967. It shares its body with the H74 but got Smeck's choices: a painted blood-red finish instead of stain, simpler binding, his signature on the upper bout, and Harmony's own vibrato instead of the Bigsby. Harmony was the biggest guitar factory in America at the time, on South Racine in Chicago, and this is one of the better things to come off that line.

The pickups are the early, small DeArmond gold foils, made by Rowe Industries in Toledo, the ones that give these guitars the clear, airy, slightly raw voice that garage, roots and indie players chase. Two pickups, individual volume and tone, selector, the Harmony vibrato with its arm, floating bridge, pearloid blocks on a bound rosewood board.

This one is as clean as these get: the red is deep and even (it reads darker in person than on screen, which is how the H73 is supposed to look), the binding is tight, the vibrato arm is present, the pickguard is original and uncracked, and the only wear worth mentioning is light wear to the Harmony logo on the headstock. No cracks, no repairs, no refinish. For a sixty-year-old Harmony this is the top of the condition scale.

Specs

• Harmony H73 Roy Smeck, made in Chicago, USA, 1964 to 1967
• Double-cutaway thinline hollowbody, 15 3/4" wide, 2" deep, red painted finish, bound top
• Set neck, bound rosewood fingerboard, pearloid block markers, 24 1/4" scale, 1 3/4" nut
• Two original DeArmond "gold foil" single-coil pickups (early small type), volume and tone for each, selector switch
• Original Harmony vibrato tailpiece with arm, floating bridge, original tuners
• Roy Smeck signature on the upper bout, Harmony logo headstock

Condition: Excellent. All original, no cracks or repairs, light wear to the headstock logo, frets with plenty of life. Fully set up in our shop and playing right.

Includes: gig bag

Where it came from: one-owner collection, bought whole by Brothers Guitar Shop in November 2026. The previous owner kept his guitars clean, had them set up and stored them properly, and it shows. Every piece goes across our bench for a check and setup before it goes on the wall at 316 E 84th St, NYC.