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Picked this up last week as there have been some very good deals out there as some have predicted there would be.
I lived in Montclair, NJ for over 10 years and met my wife while living there. Wonderful town. Anyway, the name caught my attention and the looks did as well. Did some research right away and found that this was one of the late models that had a truss rod, block inlays, w/b/w binding which put it at the end of its run and between '65-'68. It's a 25 1/4" scale and says it's all solid wood and I believe Birch. Please correct me if any of this doesn't sound right. Anyway, the seller said the neck was all good, low action and with only some paint blemishes. All hardware looks original. Anyway, for the price I figured what the heck!
It arrived as promised (no case). New acoustic strings of some sort. Good low action. No buzzing. A pretty thick and wide neck, but not brutal. A couple people, including the seller, described it as having a dryer tone. Not sure what that meant, but I think I do now. It seems like it would be great for rhythm playing, but at the same time I enjoy diddling around at my primitive level playing chord melody type stuff and single notes.
I have a Dearmond Model 40 pickup that might be cool for it, but would take some fiddling as well as the removal of the pickguard. We will see.....
Question: what would a good choice for a slightly warmer string for this guitar?
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04-19-2020 11:46 AM
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For the life of me I cant figure how to post pics from my phone and not have them show up sideways.
Ugh!
Anyone have an Android phone and have no issues with this?
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That's a nice looking guitar. I've never seen one meself, but have lived in Montclair NJ for a long time now. It's a beautiful day in the old neighborhood!
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cool guitar...i'm a big fan of the old harmony, regal, silvertone guitars...many have pressed spruce tops...open back 3 on a plate bell tuners are nice...clean'em and oil them a tad and they look good to go
as per strings...monel or pure nickel would be less bright than bronze p. or 80/20..and work better if you add pup
congrats & enjoy
cheers
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Cool guitar - Congrats!
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Thank you for reading, responding and answering!
Originally Posted by neatomic
I tried Pure Nickels on my Emperor Regent and really like them. Dont seem to squeak as much too. Also, good call on oiling the tuners. Gotta do that asap.
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Very cool guitar! Congratulations, and play it in good health!
GHS Vintage Bronze might warm it up. I'm running them on my vintage Kalamazoo archtop to good effect. 
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Nice find! You are developing a nice collection of real classic players! Congratulations!
BTW I just put a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat (P90 in humbucker form factor) in my Epiphone Zephyr Regent Re-issue. I think I like it.
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Thank you and thank you for the suggestion. I'm gonna try a couple of different sets I think. Will add those to the list! Originally Posted by citizenk74
Very cool guitar! Congratulations, and play it in good health! GHS Vintage Bronze might warm it up. I'm running them on my vintage Kalamazoo archtop to good effect.
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Thanks, Lawson! Originally Posted by lawson-stone
For a few hundred bucks I figured it seemed worth a shot. Being a "Montclair" it was kizmet!
I know you like your Zephyr a lot. Just curious as to why you went with that P-90 or maybe your Parsons Golden age Humbucker? Look forward to hearing it. Never heard you on a P-90.
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Actually I'd been quite happy with the Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in it, but one day I looked at my fairly large collection of archtops and realized every single one of them had a PAF-a-like humbucker, and wondered what the other side was like. I have a Hagstrom which is somewhat like a Strat, and recently got a Tele, and both of them had me thinking about a single coil. I tried a cheap-o but didn't think too much of it, so I did a little research and decided on the SD Phat Cat. It's different, and I like it, but I"m still trying to figure out how to optimize it. I don't know how far from the strings, how best to set the pole pieces, all that. But so far, I'm enjoying playing it. Definitely brighter than the PAF style, maybe more clear if that makes sense? I understand also why the early jazz guitarists with P90's dialed back the treble! It can do the ice-pick-in-the-ear thing very easily. Originally Posted by DMgolf66
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I too use GHS Vintage Bronze on my 1933 Kalamazoo KG-11. Living in parallel worlds Citizenk. I agree they are definitely worth a try. If the Vintage Bronze are too "mellow", also try Phosphor Bronze (made by just about any string company). I use phosphor bronze on my 40's Harmony archtop. On the back of the GHS string packet, they identify their strings on a scale from "bright" to "mellow" as follows: Contact Core Bright Bronze, Bright Bronze, Signature Bronze, White Bronze, Phosphor Bronze, Vintage Bronze, Silk and Steel, and Silk and Bronze. Originally Posted by citizenk74
Very cool guitar! Congratulations, and play it in good health! GHS Vintage Bronze might warm it up. I'm running them on my vintage Kalamazoo archtop to good effect.
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I have a 1964 Harmony Brilliant Cutaway. It looks like the slightly more upscale cousin to the Montclair. When I first got it, I used D'A Flattops. They are PBS but ground flat. Very mellow, little string noise and a MUST for playing slide with acoustic strings. Would work well for a piezo pickup.
I added a DeArmond RC1000 reissue and switched to D'A Pure Nickels. They are also a very mellow string, if you like nickel rounds. That combination of string and pickup works well. BTW, I was prepared to make a second pickup and cut into it, but that was not necessary.
Those late-model Harmony pressed-top guitars can be very good quality and on a par with the midline Gibsons of the era. They are plenty loud for acoustic players.
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