Harmony Lanes, Toledo Oregon
- a crazy find near the Oregon coast

Recently on a trip back from the Oregon coast, we stopped in a small town to check out some of the local artists and get some much needed coffee. As it happened, there was a small music store there, surprising because this is a really small town, 3680 people.

I got into a conversation with the guy that ran the music store. Interesting fact: this is in the middle of timber country, and we had seen a gigantic pile of logs outside the saw mill. The guy at the store told us that for many years, all the alder that was used by Fender and Gibson was milled right on this spot. Its easy to believe, seeing the size of the sawmill.

Like most musicians do, we were gabbing about instruments, and somehow the name Harmony came up. Have I told you of my love for inexpensive instruments? Put it this way: not everything has to be stupidly expensive to be a good instrument. Case in point, my Harmony Monterey: this was not a very pricey guitar when it came out, but the thing is just damn good. Mine in particular has some nice features that belie the cheap guitar label: edge binding on the body and the neck, nice block inlays on the neck and what I think is maybe a solid top. I had the pickup added later (the pickup was found in a guitar case in Hawaii. Its an Argonne, which is what I think the company is at this point, never seen any reference to them at all).

Here it is in all its splendor:

So how does this all tie in? Turns out that the guy that owns the bowling alley is the grandson of the founder of Harmony guitars! He owns a bowling alley right in town, that supposedly has a bunch of vintage Harmony guitars up on the walls.

I am off like a flash and here is what I find at Harmony Lanes:

Yeah, that's right, a whole ton of guitars hanging just outside, and if you look closely, just above the lanes. Wild!

Turns out I am in luck, and Charlie Moore – the owner and the grandson of the founder, is there in the alley, practicing his game (hits three strikes in a row while I am talking to him). Turns out that he had lived in Portland for years, finally buying this alley a year ago and moving here. He told me that Harmony didn't go bankrupt, but was sold outright to a Japanese company in the 70s. This company made guitars with the Harmony name, but you can easily tell a U.S. made Harmony by the fact that they with either say Made in USA under the name or won't say anything. If they say since 1896 under the name, that's a Japanese guitar.

Charlie was gracious enough to turn up the lights in the alley so that I could take some pictures of the guitars on display, although as you might expect, he told me the best ones were at his house. Here you can see a selection of the guitars I was able to photograph:

First is a Meteor, followed by a Monterey, with the genuine built in pickup, and Old Craftsman, which was another Harmony brand, a Patrician – really a great guitar, check out the headstock, a Rocket, and how many of these did they make, millions?, and finally another one that did not have a name, but looks like another variant of the Monterey to me.

I believe that these inexpensive instruments are as important to the history of music as many of the more expensive and prestigious brands, since more people could afford these. And it really is about having people make their own music, isn't it? You can get more information on Harmony instruments at Broadway Music Company.