This Harmony H303 half-size nylon string guitar is from the early 1980s. This is a great first guitar for a kid or small adult with it’s short scale, small body, nylon strings, and very low action.
Measurements:
Scale: 22″
Upper bout: 9″
Waist: 8″
Lower bout: 11 3/4″
This Harmony guitar was made in Taiwan, 5 or more years after Harmony shuttered their plants in the US and sold the name to Asian guitar makers. It has a laminate top, back, and sides, with a comfortable C shaped neck. It has a new set of D’Addario EJ27N 3/4 strings, and remarkably low action, about 1/12″ at the 12th fret. It intonates perfectly up and down the neck. It does have a few scuffs and knicks, typical of a nearly 40-year-old instrument, but no cracks, scratches, or gouges.
I repaired a cracked upper brace and leveled and dressed the frets. The guitar had steel strings on it when it came to me, which had also partially pulled the bridge up in one corner. I repaired that and put nylon strings on it. It sounds pretty good with Classic nylons, but I think it would sound good with Folk or Steel & Silk strings, too.
I’ve seen a number of these online that still have steel strings on them, but they also have sky high action. The whole guitar only has 4 braces – 2 on top, and 2 on the bottom. They don’t make steel strings light enough to keep this guitar from folding in half with steel strings.
(Don’t blame the guitar for my poor playing.)
This guitar found a good home with a college student who was looking to move into guitar from ukulele. This guitar plays like an oversize baritone uke, so it was a perfect match.