Owning a Harmony Rocket H77 for years which had a Bigsby installed in it, I can say that this Airline H78 lives up to the legend of the Rockets in sound & tone.  These are great reissues of the classic Harmony/Kays/Silvertones of the Sears/Montgomery Ward era American catalog guitars from the sixties.  Beautiful looking guitar and the triple gold foil pickups are extra fab looking, not to mention that they have that hip crunchy fat wooly tone.  But with the upgraded features like tuners, pots and switches, it is a much better instrument especially in it's playability.
This 2010 Airline H78 Semi-Hollowbody is in excellent to mint condition and it still has the plastic on the pick guard. This is one wonderful guitar in looks, tone and playability.

Installed is a pair of Gold Dunlop Straploks!

Also this Airline H 78 rest in a New Gator hardshell case. 

Oh yea and that dude Dan Auerbach from the Black Keys has one and a Red Harmony H78 Rocket like mine.

We do offer a complete set-up if you want before shipping which is a cost of $90.00 -$120.00 depending on the set up. A basic set up ( $90.00 value) includes adjustment of the truss rod, string height adjustment (action), Nut adjustment, pickup height adjustment w/pickup poles radius set, adjustment to the tremolo and intonation set. 
A complete set-up, ($120.00 value), includes adjustment of the truss rod, string height adjustment (action), Nut adjustment, pickup height adjustment w/pickup poles radius set, adjustment to the tremolo and intonation set. Along with a set-up we do a fretdress which includes precision leveling, re-crowning, sanding and polishing of the instrument's frets. All that was required here was sanding of the frets starting with a 220 grit to using 7 grits to 8000 grit. Also the fretboard was cleaned plus oiled with Lemon oil along with the whole guitar cleaned and polished.
Guitar has no breaks or repairs, it is not stamped used or is a 2nd and not a B- stock or a blem model. And please realize that the price of shipping reflects the fact that this guitar comes in a case, so therefore it adds to the weight & size of the package. We at Rocking the Shack like guitars in cases, nice and safe! And are also big fans of strap locks! Pickguards are also nice. At the Shack we do tune ups and set ups but only when requested by customer. Unless, At times if we feel that a set up would really benefit an instrument then we just do it. Of course every guitar deserves a good set up with new strings At Rocking the Shack we keep climate control conditions all year round and the instruments live in a smoke free environment in their cases! As mentioned before we love cases and strap locks for the safety and protection they offer.  Need we say more! Pick guards are also nice for protection of the body and when matched up right they can really can bring out a hidden beauty in an instrument! We pride ourselves in offering quality working beautiful instruments for sale. We are great communicators and the best packers and shippers. We ship with Reverb protection through UPS mostly.
We do sell and ship to Canada but cannot list the shipping cost till we know your address and that your serious. Then we can do an estimate of that cost and send you a offer.

We spend the time needed to make sure you are a happy camper/customer. It gives us great joy to know someone is playing and enjoying an instrument we have worked on and owned.
Thanks so much for your interest!

Marcus & Rory @ Rocking the Shack & Blue Blue Guitars

This tribute to the 1960's Airline H77/78 - which at the time was also available under the brands of Harmony and Silvertone - covers all the best parts of the originals, but kicks it up a notch for 2014. True in almost every detail to the original, "upgraded" features include the new Gold Foil Argyle pickups, a modern roller bridge for tuning stability, a center block for Bigsby stability and feedback suppression.

FEATURES & SPECS

Body: Bound Laminated Maple, Vintage F-Holes
Colours: Honeyburst, Black, Metallic Blue
Pickups: Three Airline Argyle "Gold Foil" SC
Switching: 3- on/off
Controls: 3 Volume 3 Tone
Bridge: Roller Tun-O-Matic Bridge, Bigsby
Neck: Bound Maple, Bolt-on, Bound Headstock
Finger Board: Rosewood, Block Markers
Scale Length: 24 3/4" (628mm)
Width at the Nut: 1 5/8""
Hardware: Gotoh style Style Nickel/Chrome
Strings: #9-#46
Unique Features: Airline Gold Foil Pickups
New Dunlop Gold Straploks Installed
Case: New Gator Hardshell case

Review by Premier Guitar

Since 2001, Eastwood Guitars has been reviving quirky, discontinued guitars of yore at prices that are pretty reasonable compared to vintage specimens. Looking for the unusual aesthetics of a Mosrite? Yeah, they’ve got that. They’ve also got pretty faithful renditions of long-gone electric guitars and basses by Kay, Supro, Wandre, Magnatone, Ovation, Musicraft, and more. 

Some of Eastwood’s biggest sellers are models based on guitars favored by influential players. When Jack White and his ’59 Airline 2P gained fame with the White Stripes, the company released a reissue that was a big hit. More recently, Eastwood has gotten retro-minded guitarists hot and heavy for its take on the three-pickup Harmony H78 played by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Like many “department store” guitars from the ’50s and ’60s, the original versions of this basic design were produced under a few name brands with differing model numbers. Between approximately 1965 and 1972, the same hollowbody setup was sold as a Silvertone S1485 and as an Airline 7230. Eastwood owns the Airline name, so their guitar uses that badge. But they combine it with the model number from the popular Harmony version.

Won’t Get Foiled Again
Like most Eastwood interpretations of golden oldies, the Chinese-made Airline H78 deftly captures the visual vibe of the original. From the laminated-maple body’s lovely honeyburst finish to the headstock shape, four-bolt neck, block fretboard inlays, binding, f-holes, pickguard, switch surround, and basic hardware, this beauty looks nearly identical to the guitar that inspired it. 

Aesthetics aside, the Airline H78 takes liberties with certain details in order to streamline production. For instance, original H78s came with DeArmond “gold-foil” single-coils whose materials and construction were quite different from modern pickups. Though a few boutiques pickup makers (including Jason Lollar and Curtis Novak) make authentic reproductions of these designs, their inclusion would add significantly to the Airline’s price. Vintage-spec gold-foils also have a unique sound that some players may not view as flexible enough for modern repertoires. In place of the four-slot DeArmond pickups screwed to the top of old hollowbody Harmony H78s, the new Airline features three Eastwood Argyle Gold Foil single-coils screwed into routes in its semi-hollow body (more on this construction difference later). The Argyles look like a rare version of DeArmonds found in guitars such as mid-’60s Airline H15 Bobkats, but though the multi-diamond slot pattern is period-correct, these units don’t feature the rubber-magnet construction that gives vintage gold-foils their distinctive tone. “We matched as closely as possible the wiring, materials, and impedance of the original pickups,” says Eastwood’s Mike Robinson, “but with modern construction and potting techniques for a more durable design.”

Ratings

Pros:
Wide variety of useful tones, from modern to old-school. Authentic vintage aesthetics. 

Cons:
Minor quality-control issues.
Street: 
$799 w/hardshell case

PRODUCT
eastwoodguitars.com

Eastwood made other significant changes. Regarding the previously mentioned change from a hollow to a center-block-equipped, semi-hollow body, Robinson says, “We did this for two reasons: 1) to better support the Bigsby B70, and 2) to allow for feedback suppression at louder stage volume, as the originals are notorious for feedback.”

One difference less traditionally minded players are likely to applaud is the switch from the old, blade-style wooden bridge to a Tune-o-matic-style unit with individually intonatable roller saddles. Rather than mounting the bridge to a floating wooden “foot,” a la Auerbach’s Harmony, Eastwood mounted it directly to the H78’s body. (Our review model was intonated properly, but three saddles were all the way forward—which could pose a problem for future adjustment.) Sharp-eyed Harmony hounds will also note the wider spacing between the Airline’s three pairs of volume and tone controls. 

So how’s the execution? We were impressed with overall build and setup quality. And though we were disappointed by the small routing anomaly in one corner of the neck pickup’s cavity, the excess seam glue visible through the f-holes, and the slightly bent shaft on the neck pickup’s on/off toggle, we were relieved to see satisfactory execution of more practical details—such as smoothly beveled fret ends and even note response across the fretboard.

Harmonized Thirds
I tested the Airline H78 through a 6L6-powered Louis Electric Tremoverb, a 6973-powered Goodsell Valpreaux 21, and an EL34-driven Jaguar HC50. Naturally, the first thing on my mind was how the Argyle pickups sounded in comparison to the wide frequency range and low-end swagger of old gold-foils. With the guitar’s volume and tone controls all the way up, I was initially struck by how bright and focused the pickups sounded. Both soloed and in combination, the bridge and middle pickups in particular have a Strat-like quality—though with a woodier, more open feel. The bridge unit sounded incisive, and the middle pickup sounded compressed and spunky. Together, they yielded the sort of cluck that makes you want to play clean-toned chicken-pickin’ lines. Meanwhile, the neck pickup has an open and warm, but present quality.

As I experimented with the Airline’s knobs, I came to see the guitar in a different light. Some old department-store guitars seemed to pack on the switches and knobs with more regard for how “space-age” it made the instrument look than for how useful the controls were. But here every knob and switch is gold: You’ve got seven pickup combinations, all of which yield unique tones if you spend time dialing in interesting volume ratios and getting adventurous with tone settings. With the bridge pickup’s tone about a third open and its volume rolled back a third, combined with the neck pickup full on but tone pulled back two or three notches, I had the cranked Louis Tremoverb barking out old-school boogie that really did sound like a much older guitar. And with a bit of reverb, a semi-dirty sound, and tone knobs reined in a bit, I used neck-and-middle and neck-and-bridge pickup combos to infuse R&B-style lines with a really authentic greasiness.

The Verdict
Given the differences between Eastwood’s Airline H78 and the 50-year-old incarnations—most notably the pickup and body construction changes—it should go without saying that this guitar isn’t a vintage guitar minus the “used” tag. If you want the exact feel, tone, and response of an old Harmony, then buy one. But if you’re looking for a reasonably priced semi-hollow guitar with modern niceties and bona fide vintage looks, the Airline is a mighty cool option. Especially considering how its control complement lets you go from bright, modern sounds to convincingly retro tones.