Well, somebody's pushing the envelope

[mrmando]

$1,100 for a '73 Harmony batwing electric.

Back when people started asking $800 for them I thought they'd never get it.

https://reverb.com/item/53684280-har...ard-shell-case

[JeffLearman]

I well remember the old Harmony guitars. Great for the price, frankly! Well, they had a dreadnought that was iffy at best (but cheap.) The one I liked was a small-bodied guitar that seemed to be a copy of the Gibson OO that was great for some back-porch blues picking, especially after a little home-brew setup.

I don't remember the prices, but that was back when you had to pay at least $200 for a decent instrument, which in today's money is more like $1000. The Harmony guitars were well under half that, IIRC, so a real boon to folks with not a lot of cash to spare.

Things are better today where you can spend $150-200 (about to $30-40 in 1975 money) and get a playable guitar (especially in telecaster knockoffs.) Quite a bit better quality than the Harmony, IMHO.

How do today's cheap mandos compare with an old Harmony?

IIRC, those Harmony guitars didn't tend to last long, being made of plywood.

[mrmando]

How do today's cheap mandos compare with an old Harmony?

Complicated question. These old Batwings have an enormous neck block that fills up most of the space created by the bass and treble body points ... and they have plywood plates with no carving to speak of, so acoustically they are rather disappointing. Electrically, however, the DeArmond pickup offers a lot of excitement, and a Batwing can be a more-than-decent instrument if it is set up properly. Plus, its looks can't be beat. The eye-candy factor is almost entirely intangible, but it's very real.

Pricing one at $1,100, however, puts it within striking distance of present-day alternatives like the Eastman El Rey, which is a superior instrument in every respect except perhaps for "mojo."

[urobouros]

Looking through his other sales, I'm not surprised the Batwing is aggressively priced I don't like leaving money on the table but if you have the time to be patient...

[mrmando]

I've sold a lot of these but never for that much. Maybe that's just for a lack of trying.

[Bob Buckingham]

I remember passing one up for $69 in a pawnshop. So today's prices are out of the question for me.