Airline 7209 Harmony Stratotone Roy Smeck 3 Dearmond Pickup 1960 Vintage Sunburst

1960 Harmony Airline Model 7209 made in Chicago, USA by Harmony.

Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar with interior date stamp of 1960. Sunburst top, shaded maple back and sides finish, laminated maple body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.

The Airline Model 7209 has to be one of the most rare variants of the Harmony Stratotone/Roy Smeck semi-solid series. Normally you see the blonde Harmony H7208 version with the 2 pickups and black "star-like" pickguard. I was only able to find a couple other references online of the Airline 7209 three pickup version stratotone; they are very rare and hard to come by.

This is the only 3-pickup variation of the Stratotone design. The 4 way rotary switch activates all pickups at once and then descends logically from neck, to middle, to bridge pickups individually. There are 6 control knobs that pair a single volume and tone control to each pickup making for an endless array of sonic exploration. The volume and tone controls were disengaged from the guitar when I received it, but all pots were still wired as originally intended and have been professionally reconnected back to the 4 way switch at a local guitar shop. 

This is a used, vintage guitar that has seen its share of dings, dents and scratches. There is a small crack by the output jack that is quite common on any older hollow/semi hollow body guitar due to the fact that the instrument cables can put stress in this area. This crack is stable and guitar plays fine despite this small flaw. I recommend using angled guitar cables on any guitar with a side output jack.

The neck is straight and frets have life left. The truss rod seemed a bit tight when testing out but since neck and action was good I haven't bothered with adjusting the truss rod. The truss rod cover is one I had from another vintage Harmony guitar and one of the screw holes didn't seem to line up so it is missing the 1 screw. The Roy Smeck "star-like" pickguard has 2 cracks on the points as shown in the pictures.


Overall length is appx 38 3/8"
Lower bout is appx 13 1/16"
Depth is apps 1 15/16"
Scale length is 24"
Nut width is 1 3/4"

Comes with the original 2-tone case. Case handle is broken and case has plenty of wear.

This is a pre-owned, used, vintage guitar and will be packed carefully but also sold as is.

International buyers are responsible for any taxes, duties, fees etc.