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Acoustic Guitars

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IDENTIFYING RE-BRANDED HARMONY TRADEMARKS

Harmony reportedly made 57 "different" brands throughout their productive years. Early models featured the Harmony trademark, or remained unlabeled for the numerous wholesalers. In 1928 Harmony introduced the Roy Smeck Vita series, and two years later the Grand Concert and Hawaiian models debuted. The Vagabond line was introduced in 1931, the Cremona series in 1934, and Patrician guitars later in 1938.
As Harmony was purchased by Sears, Roebuck in 1916, Harmony built a number of Silvertone models. Harmony continued to sell to Sears even after Kraus bought the company. Harmony bought a number of trademarks from the bankrupt Oscar Schmidt Company in 1939 (such as La Scala, Stella, Sovereign ), as well as expanding their own brandnames with Valencia, Monterey, Harmony Deluxe, Johnny Marvin, Vogue, and many (like Carelli from the mid-1930s) that are being researched today! Although the Kay company built most of the Airline guitars for the Montgomery Ward stores, Harmony would sometimes be subcontracted to build Airlines to meet the seasonal shopping rush. National (Valco) supplied resonator cones for some Harmony resonator models, and probably bought guitar parts from Harmony in return.