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Thank you! ...for voting us GOLD Winners in the Quest for the Best 2024! Come in for a free Quest magazine with all the area's best!Harmony Jupiter Thinline Cherry Electric with Mono Veritgo gig bag
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First shown at the 2023 NAMM show, the new Harmony Thinline has now arrived. Founded in 1892, Harmony guitars was at one point the largest guitar manufacturer in the United States, and several years ago Bandlab revived the brand with updated designs and new energy. Now produced at the historic Heritage factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Harmony guitars respect the past, but are designed and built with the modern player in mind. Featuring classic tone woods, nitrocellulose finishes, quality hardware, and exclusive gold foil pickups, the Harmony Jupiter Thinline has plenty of vibe to go around, and when you consider it comes with a Mono Vertigo bag, it's astounding value.
Unless noted, photos are of the actual guitar for sale. Pricing reflects new 2024 MAP.
The USA-made Harmony Jupiter Thinline features:
- Chambered Mahogany body, 5.8 pounds
- Nitrocellulose finish
- White body binding
- Mahogany bolt-on neck, 25” scale, 1-11/16 nut width
- “C” neck profile
- 12” radius Rosewood fretboard
- 22 Medium jumbo frets
- Custom gold foil humbucker pickups
- Volume and tone control with orange drop capacitor
- 3 saddle compensated string-through bridge
- Locking tuners
- MONO Vertigo case
While Harmony was once known as a budget "Sears Catalog" type of guitar, the new Harmony is every bit a professional instrument. But even at that, it's the most bang-for-the-buck USA guitar that we can think of. A chambered Mahogany guitar with top binding, locking tuners, hand-wired high quality electronics and a $200 gig bag for $1499 leaves most other manufacturers in the dust.
Stylistically, the shape is the same as their solid Jupiter but with a neat white body binding and a very attractive natural finish back. Besides reducing weight, chambering does soften the attack slightly, making the guitar a touch more mellow than the it's solid body brethren. While chambering can sometime reduce low end, we did not notice a big difference with the Jupiter Thinline. Chalk that up to mahogany and its mids-friendly response.
And what about those pickups? Gold foil itself is not really an indicator of anything, and the construction beneath foil pickups can vary widely. But it's a cool look, and was used to dress up otherwise nondescript low priced guitars. While we did not tear open these humbucker pickups to see how they are made, sonically they differ quite a bit from your typical PAF.
The Mini-Humbucker neck pickup is borrowed from their Silhouette guitar, and the smaller closer-spaced coils have plenty of attack, good midrange clarity and a sweet top end. It nicely straddles the space between single and humbucker while not really sounding like either. There is enough snap for funk, but a smooth top end that sits well for jazz or GB. The chambering does have an impact, and it does not have the same spank as in the solid body maple neck Silhouette.
The bridge pickup is bright with lots of clarity and sparkle -- and for a humbucker -- a good dose of twang. The tone control with orange drop capacitor is very effective and you can easily mellow it out with just a slight tweak. Given it some gain and it's wonderfully loose and organic without sounding Jack White lo-fi. You won't find the chugging lows of a Les Paul, but for roots, pop and indy it's a great tone where note clarity takes precedence over massive crunch.
We measure the neck profile to be roughly .805" at the first fret and .925" at the 12th fret. With the 1-11/16 nut width and not heavily rolled fretboard edges, it feels pleasantly chunky but never bulky. The thickness in the upper frets is just about perfect, and lends great palm support while working up the neck. The 25" scale is 1/2" shorter that the "other" bolt-on brand, and the bolt-on/shorter scale combo is a nice blend of snappy dynamics and comfortable string tension.
Fancy foil covers or not, the Harmony Jupiter has a unique tone that sits in its own space. While we can't say it's "better" than the solid body Jupiter, we really dig the mini-hum in the neck over the Jupiter's humbucker. The workmanship is excellent and the combination of humbuckers, bolt-on neck and in-between 25" scale it a neat combo. Add in the rugged MONO bag and and you've got a lightweight, high quality unique instrument. For a pro-level USA guitar there is not much else in its class. The Harmony Jupiter Thinline is perfect for players not trying to "be" somebody else, and will reward those looking to carve their own path.