Guitar Spotlight: A 1959
Harmony Stratotone "Mars" H46
This was my old childhood neighbor's first electric guitar when he was a kid in the late 50’s. When he was 12 years old, he and his ten year old brother had gotten fairly good on their acoustic guitars playing Everly Brothers songs - but they told their parents that they REALLY needed electrics to sound right! So their Dad took them to the Western Auto store in Gallipolis, Ohio and they both got Harmony built H46 models - this one in Sunburst and the little brother got a black one. They also got one small amp to share!
From 1978 to 1985 I lived and grew up beside this guitar’s owner and his youngest son became my lifelong friend. His wife was often my baby sitter, and their son and I grew up fascinated with Star Wars and KISS! Growing up beside them I knew my buddy’s Dad played guitar and was in bands. Music was as important part of his family’s life as it was my family’s. In 2024 while visiting my friend’s parents, I was fortunate enough to purchase his “first electric” from him and I am so happy to be the caregiver of this really cool guitar!
The guitar was in pretty darn good shape when I got it, but of course I still had to take everything apart and clean it. I steel wooled the fretboard and it sucked up three coats of lemon oil really fast. I then polished the frets with Frine and a Dremel with a polishing disc. Of course, everything was cleaned with Naptha. Then Balistol and 3-N-1 oil was used in the needed places. Electronics were cleaned with Deoxit. The strings were flatwounds - and eventually I'll put some back on - but the gauge was 16-20-25-38-47-60! I did not put those back on! In fact I can't even find flatwounds that size even being made!
The only issue with the guitar is one pickup was dead, unfortunately. I sent the pickup to Tom Brantly in North Carolina at Tom Brantly Rewinds. Tom did a fantastic job of bringing the original pickup back to life with a turnaround time just over a month! I can’t recommend him enough! You can find his website here: www.tombrantleyrewinds.com
So when I am feeling like playing some late 50’s rockabilly or some 60’s garage rock, this is the guitar I grab. Even with its baseball bat sized neck, it really plays great and has a unique sound that fits these styles of early rock perfectly!
