Harmony H35 Mandolin Chicago

[Headstock]

I recently purchased a Harmony H35 Mandolin, that I believe belonged to an Executive or Salesman, for the Harmony Instrument Co. in Chicago.

His name is Harold M. Klopping. From the clues I have he worked for the company thru the 60s and maybe into the seventies, and that he was a talented musician who loved to play this mandolin. I am looking for any information about the man living or dead?


Thanks,

HS

[allenhopkins]

He was quoted in the 1960's, reprinted in a Music Trades retrospective. Since he was working for Harmony 50 years ago, in an apparent senior management position, I'd be surprised if he were still around.

[Headstock]

Thanks Allen,
very interesting the plot thickens.

[Jeff Mando]

A simple search showed he worked for Dearmond-Rowe pickups in Toledo, Ohio from 1945 to 1965. He was a decorated WWII pilot and the brother-in-law of Bud Rowe, the founder. In 1965 he went to work for Chicago Music Industries retiring as a vice president in 1973. You can search this at www.musicpickups.com and look under History. It appears he died in 2001 at the age of 81. This was from www.findagrave.com

[mrmando]

Interesting thread. What info did you receive to link Mr. Klopping to this particular instrument?

[Headstock]

Well to come clean, it was a pawn shop buy. But it was the instrument itself, that motivated my purchase. A Harmony H35 Batwing Mandolin with the original case. It is a work of ART! And after reading the posts in this forum, I believe this Mandolin to be a Chicago built H35. Matching die cut Harmony Logo on the Head stock and pick guard, screw on neck (3 screws) Truss rod, pearl block inlays, the tailpiece. The tuners were upgraded to the correct vintage high ratio grovers that seem to be the norm for these H35s.

One of the unique features of this H35 is that the holes were drilled for the V/T & plug. But no hardware or P/U were ever installed as there is no scaring to the body.
No Stamped numbers that would indicate the year of construction, there is a stamped #8935H35,
Condition I would give it an 8, playablity a 10+.

Inside the accessory compartment of the case I found the packaging label for a Harmony Co. electric guitar connecting cord #6637.

And the business card for Harold M. Klopping, The Harmony Company, circa 1964.

Everything over 50 years old, and a little wishful deduction.

[mrmando]

Well, the presence of Mr. Klopping's business card in the case could mean he owned the mandolin, sure, but given that he worked for the company, there could be a number of other reasons for his card to be there.

[allenhopkins]

Perhaps Mr. Klopping's card was given to the purchaser, to contact if he/she wanted the pickup installed...?

Just a guess.

[Headstock]

I think you guys are missing the obvious, what I am trying to do is make the connection based on what I have. Thanks to you guys I have already found out what an amazing person Mr. Klopping was, WII, decorated Pilot, Thank you for your SERVICE. Successful Businessman and moneyman in the musical instrument trade, VP of CMI. And if I could somehow validate the connection, well again am I stating the Obvious? And there is no doubt in my mind that if you were in my position you would do the same. And even if I cannot make the connection this beautiful Mandolin is a 50 year old survival relic, that plays with a tone that only comes from such a well crafted seasoned instrument. And again thanks for all your help so far.
HS

[mrmando]

The connection you are trying to make is the sort of thing that you likely won't be able to confirm unless you can speak to one of the late Mr. Klopping's children.

[Hockey Puck]

Hey Headstock - congratulations - sounds like a great find! Can you post some photos?

[Jim Garber]

I think you guys are missing the obvious, what I am trying to do is make the connection based on what I have. Thanks to you guys I have already found out what an amazing person Mr. Klopping was, WII, decorated Pilot, Thank you for your SERVICE. Successful Businessman and moneyman in the musical instrument trade, VP of CMI. And if I could somehow validate the connection, well again am I stating the Obvious? And there is no doubt in my mind that if you were in my position you would do the same. And even if I cannot make the connection this beautiful Mandolin is a 50 year old survival relic, that plays with a tone that only comes from such a well crafted seasoned instrument. And again thanks for all your help so far.
HS

Maybe I am completely missing the OP's "obvious". Even if you were to verify the connection to Mr. Klopping what does that mean? I can't imagine that this would seriously increase the value of this instrument. At the best it is a cool oddball mandolin that people like for the association with Yank Rachell (who played the electric version). These were never upper end instruments known for their tone. For some perspective of how people here look at this model check out this thread.

[MikeEdgerton]

One of the unique features of this H35 is that the holes were drilled for the V/T & plug. But no hardware or P/U were ever installed as there is no scaring to the body.
No Stamped numbers that would indicate the year of construction, there is a stamped #8935H35,

Believe it or not we've seen mandolins like this before here in the past. Incomplete without the electric hardware installed. Harmony generally but not always had a date stamp inside that would have started with an F or S followed by a two digit number. That would date it but sometimes it's not there or it fades over time. Harmony didn't serialize anything that was recorded but it is suggested by some that the first numbers before the H (Harmony) 35 might be some sort of batch number. As Harmony records are almost non-existent nobody knows that for sure. The date codes however are pretty consistent with the F standing for the first half of the year and the S standing for the second half of the year. With all of that said, the mandolin is still just a batwing. It might hold special favor with a batwing aficionado but beyond that no matter who owned it it's not real unusual and as Jim pointed out, they have been discussed for years.

[Jeff Mando]

Yep, unless it was owned by Bill Monroe or Jimi Hendrix, it is worth $200-400 on a good day, maybe a little more if it had the pickup and controls.

Business card is a cool plus aka "case candy" as they say, but provides no connection to Klopping, IMHO.

IIRC, Jack Nicholson was given someone's business card in the movie Chinatown, then used it to impersonate the card's owner the next day...................so, just for fun, you might want to "become" Harold M. Klopping........... you know, go to the airport, grab a plane, having your business card in your wallet, your Harmony mandolin, and a copy of your online CV printed out in your briefcase......all to verify you are who you say you are.........show up to your gig in style -- you also look amazingly young and spry for being over 100 years old..........................

[mklopping]

I recently purchased a Harmony H35 Mandolin, that I believe belonged to an Executive or Salesman, for the Harmony Instrument Co. in Chicago.

His name is Harold M. Klopping. From the clues I have he worked for the company thru the 60s and maybe into the seventies, and that he was a talented musician who loved to play this mandolin. I am looking for any information about the man living or dead?


Thanks,

HS

I am Harold Klopping's nephew. Most, if not all of what was posted is true of my uncle Harold. He was a WWII pilot and flew the B-17s in to Germany. He was an executive at the Harmony company. When I was a boy, he gave me, my dad (his brother), and my brother a tour of the factory. He was a kind and unassuming man. We never knew he was a WWII hero until I was well in to adulthood. He and his wife are both passed but he has one child, a daughter still living. I am still in contact with her and if you like, I can reach out to her but out of respect for her privacy, I will not give her name out here. Anyway, let me know. Mark Klopping

[Timbofood]

This is one of the most impressive kind of things that happen on this site, connections with instruments and family members and the history never ceases to amaze me!
Thank you for adding your perspective to this thread Mr. Klopping!

[NickR]

I wonder if his daughter has any interesting anecdotes. It really is quite amazing at how big this enterprise was- its vast output and the rather scarce information on so many aspects of its many activities.

[mrmando]

Wow! Mark, do you know if your uncle was a mandolin player? Is there a chance this was his personal instrument?

[Jeff Mando]

Harmony for many years was the largest manufacturer of guitars in the world. At one time, I had a gatefold record album from the 60's that was made for a stockholders meeting explaining the Harmony company in detail. In addition to making and selling the most guitars -- keep in mind, in the mid-60's (Beatles, British Invasion, etc. -- manufacturers couldn't keep up with the demand for guitars, especially among kids) -- Harmony, also had the world's largest stock of wood. That is why they could put one-piece solid wood backs on Harmony Sovereigns and the quality of the spruce tops rivaled the more expensive brands. They were also describing a new state of the art factory to accomplish all of this. Cool stuff!

[MikeEdgerton]

Harmony for many years was the largest manufacturer of guitars in the world. At one time, I had a gatefold record album from the 60's that was made for a stockholders meeting explaining the Harmony company in detail. In addition to making and selling the most guitars -- keep in mind, in the mid-60's (Beatles, British Invasion, etc. -- manufacturers couldn't keep up with the demand for guitars, especially among kids) -- Harmony, also had the world's largest stock of wood. That is why they could put one-piece solid wood backs on Harmony Sovereigns and the quality of the spruce tops rivaled the more expensive brands. They were also describing a new state of the art factory to accomplish all of this. Cool stuff!

As much as I love glowing reviews the real world is that Harmony saw their instruments as a commodity. If they could make enough of them cheap enough they could stay in business. When the flood of inexpensive Japanese guitars started to enter the market they were gone within a year or two. I seriously doubt anyone was really worried about how they played or sounded the last several decades they were in business. The whole mojo thing confuses me a bit as I played these dogs in the 50's and 60's when it was all I could afford. Harmony's claim to fame at the end was that they'd used solid woods on almost everything through the years. Kay was selling their laminated sides and backs as feature as early as the 30's. As much as I have enjoyed flipping these things over the years I can honestly tell you that 99.9% of them weren't a whole lot to write home about. The Batwing's cool factor was more in how it looked than how they sounded. Unfortunately being able to tie one of these to an individuals name is a neater thing for the family as an heirloom than it is a chance to make the instrument worth more than another one with an unknown provenance. As for the argument that will surely be raised of the old blues guys that played these things, it was all they could afford as well. There is an iconic picture of Robert Johnson. He's not playing a Harmony. Carry on.

[Timbofood]

A buddy of mine decided he felt like he wanted to corner the market on those old black top Harmony dreadnoughts, for the life of me I cannot understand why. They were dogs back then, and time has not really made them any better. I think at one point he had seven or eight of them!
The family connection is really cool but, it does not make the instrument any better.
I’d still like to find one on the cheap someday. The

[mklopping]

Wow! Mark, do you know if your uncle was a mandolin player? Is there a chance this was his personal instrument?

I never saw him play any instrument nor did I ever see any around his house. To be fair we only saw them a couple times a year. He lived in Chicago at the time, Hinsdale to be exact, and we lived in Ohio. By the time we moved to Chicago he had retired and moved to Georgia. I will touch base with his daughter and ask. I will tell you that the tour of the Harmony plant was really impressive. This would have been in 1969 or 1970. Backing up other posts, they we’re pumping out electrics left and right. But it was all about demand. This was the era of the Beatles and everyone wanted to play. They had their niche. My brothers first guitar was a Harmony due to family connections but as soon as he could afford it he bought a Les Paul.

[mklopping]

By the way, the “M” in the middle name is Milton, his dad,my grandfathers name

[NickR]

I think it was probable that during what seemed like an endless guitar buying boom, both Harmony and Kay over-extended themselves and when the boom either plateaued out- or sales fell into decline, the arrival of competition as Mike mentions from Japan and elsewhere just took them off at the knees. We saw this with the British motorcycle industry, once the world's biggest- most of the marques were owned by either BSA (including Triumph, Ariel etc)- or AMC ( Matchless, AJS) and Norton- and these companies struggled to compete and when times became tough, they went under- although Norton-Villiers as it has become survived picking the bones of the BSA empire as well. Making sure your boom does not lead to bust is a business and management skill. I can remember a client of mine saying: "I am a very big sceptic and agnostic when it comes to booms- I don't believe in them" and I in the main, concur.

[allenhopkins]

Well, in my experience, Harmony Monterey mandolins had really nice tuners: nice ratio, very smooth. Other than that, pretty ordinary instruments.

The Japanese instruments blew Harmony and Kay away partially on appearance. Yamaha, Alvarez, Takamine acoustic guitars looked like Martins and Guilds, quality US makes. Harmonys and Kays looked clunky and under-finished -- painted-on bindings, flat or matte surfaces, stenciled headstocks, etc. If you wanted a guitar that looked pro-level, but could only afford a student model, the Asian imports ruled.

There are those who go "retro" for its own sake, and make a virtue out of plainness and crudeness. I remember kids into the blues, who'd scarf up pawn-shop Harmony and Kay guitars because "that's what Blind Orange Julius played." But BOJ was a poor sharecropper's son, and when he signed that contract with Bluebird Records, he took the advance and bought a Gibson. And a fifth of Jack Daniels. The rest is history...