Harmony Rocket III

Harmony was born in Chicago way back in 1892. The company quickly became a major supplier of reasonably priced stringed instruments to such nationwide retailers and catalog houses as Western Auto; Montgomery Ward; and Sears, Roebuck and Company (who actually bought the company in 1916). The Harmony Rocket line of electric guitars made its debut in 1958, along with other “space-age”-themed instruments, such as the Stratotone Mercury and Stratotone Jupiter. In 1960, there were three Rocket models, sporting (respectively) one, two, or as in this example, three pickups. All had single cutaways and thin “hardwood bodies,” although the exact timber was never revealed. No less than six knobs controlled volume and tone for each pickup, with a large lever-style switch for selecting the individual pickups or a combination of all three.