The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone know if they are still in business? I've tried emailing them, calling them and even filled out their "contact us/order" form. No answer. The web site looks up to date.


Roger

Someone else recently asked this and it seems they are still in business, but not responding too much.

Thanks for the reply Ron. It is kind of strange. I have one of their steels and was enquiring about some modifications. Maybe their on vacation?

Roger

Bump for more info???? Has anyone heard from Sage or James at Harmos??? When Roger & I PM'ed each other about this, I dug out all the phone #'s that I had & called with no reply. I hope that they have not gone out of business...my Harmos is one of the best sounding & playing lap steels that I own!!!!!!!
Terry V

Well, the complete lack of interest in this thread, by a group of steel enthusiasts, probably tells the tale. Maybe they (Harmos) were too far ahead of their time. Maybe not traditional enough. Too bad, because their ideas and innovations really worked! That's assuming that they are in fact out of business.

Maybe we have ourselves a couple of collector items, Terry.

Roger

Roger Marshall wrote:Well, the complete lack of interest in this thread, by a group of steel enthusiasts, probably tells the tale...

Well, that's one interpretation, Roger. But over 500 people have read your thread, so perhaps a more realistic interpretation is that most of us out here have no clue what happened to Harmos, so we have nothing to post on your thread, unless you'd like us all to pipe up and state in writing, for the record, that we have no idea what happened to Harmos. But I wouldn't characterize 500 people reading your thread as a 'complete lack of interest in this thread'.

I have no information on the current status of Harmos lap steels, Roger. Sorry for not making that clearer earlier.

The last one I saw being played was by "Lion" kobeyashi (sp) at Joliet in 2006. I believe it belonged to a Japanese student of his that came to the convention with him. I think Bobby Ingano has one around yet, but never plays it to my knowledge.

It sounded good, but I am too traditional to use one I guess.

Guys, I didn't mean to come off like I'm offended that nobody was responding to "my" thread. I just thought that it was interesting that it got very few responses. I guess "complete lack of interest" was a little strong. Maybe "lack of responses" would have been more appropriate. Or not.

Roger

Hey Roger...Don't feel bad, not that many own Harmos lap steel so there will not be as much info out there. I will try the numbers that I have again...Now that this is on my mind again, I will probably play my Harmos today at a Furniture Market gig today in High Point NC...I still love that sound of the Harmos & the Lollar pup.......Terry V.

Harmos Lap Steels are no longer in production. They are still building their carbon fiber guitars. I have two Harmos lap steels (a 7 and an 8 string) and my experience of them is that they are superb instruments with gorgeous tone.

I had a Harmos for a few days but had to send it back because of problems with it. Too bad. Really cool looking thing. I never had a chance to really get to know it.

Bill McCloskey wrote:I had a Harmos for a few days but had to send it back because of problems with it. Too bad. Really cool looking thing. I never had a chance to really get to know it.

Bill, do you mind saying what specific problems you may have had? Design/manufacturing flaw, or something with your particular Harmos?

Just curious-I am thinking about picking up an Americana model used, but will pass if there are inherent problems with this make.

The tuners didn't work properly.

That would definitely be a deal-buster. Any other Harmos owners care to weigh in on the functionality/reliability of the tuners?

As far as I know, mine was an anomaly. they were nice about it and offered to swap it out, but I decided against it.

I have, I believe, the third one that they made. I actually ordered the second one but got bumped for Jerry Douglas...as they told me....which was fine with me.....as long as they didn't dump me for Bill M......

I had the same problem that Bill had.....the keyless tuners would slip and it wouldn't stay in tune....I sent it back and they corrected the problem.....and it works fine to this day.

Not long after that, they went to a standard tuner keyhead.

I love the Harmos...it has a great tone & sound....light as a feather...I also have carbon fiber stand.....the whole set up is unbelievably light.....

Thanks much for the info. The one I am looking at is from 2005, I believe, and includes the stand, and what the dealer describes as an "ingeniously designed" gig bag that holds the steel and stand all together.

I have the Harmos on hold at the moment, but I have asked the dealer to contact the seller (it's on consignment) to see if he has any comments on the tuner issue. Sure hope it turns out to be a non-issue.

Thanks again.

i just wanted to say that i have very little interest in this thread.

however, i do think harmos steels look like a modern frank lloyd wright building.

Kind of funny that this topic has popped up again. I've been considering selling my Harmos. I have a home recording set up, and use all of my various instruments for the songs I write and record. I had the Harmos set up with Loller Stringmaster pickups. Sounds beautiful, but I find that for the stuff I do, I wind up using my old Silvertone more often.

So, just the other day I write a song and the Harmos is just perfect for it. Still might sell it, but kind of a coincidence this topic coming up and all.

About the tuners.... Mine is a 7 string and I originally ordered it with standard tuners. Turns out that with the added string, the angle to the nut was too severe and I was having a horrible string breakage problem. The guys at Harmos replaced the standard tuners with the keyless ones (for free) and I've had no problems since.

These really are amazing instruments. Every note rings perfectly clear up and down the neck. Even the highest notes have incredible sustain. The science behind these really works!

It really is too bad they've stopped making them.

Roger

William Palmer wrote:the dealer describes as an "ingeniously designed" gig bag that holds the steel and stand all together.

It's a very high quality padded gig case (made of fabric), I would call it......and it has "saddle bags" that go over top of the case, handle going through it.....and the bags which hold the stand parts hang on both sides......so when you pick up the handle, you're carrying both the case & bags.....nice - yes convenient - yes....ingenious?.....I dunno...

There's an 8 string for sale in Toronto.

Do you know what the pickup combination is on that Joey?

Roger

I don't have any connection with the instrument, but you can read the store's description here:
http://12fret.com/used/index.html#Reso- ... 0&%20Steel

Thanks Joey. It has Chicago Steel in the bridge position and a Tele style in the neck. That's the combo I should have ordered. Darn it!!

Roger