TYPE
Electric Solid Body Single cutaway guitar
FEATURES
One-piece plywood body and neck
Rosewood fretboard
One single-coil pickup
INFORMATION
Harmony introduced the first Newport H42 Stratotone in 1955, which was part of the H44 series of Spanish-electric solid-bodies. This model was Harmony’s answer to Fender’s Stratocaster.
It was sold as a more colorful, lighter and thinner version of the H44 and had bakelite tone and volume knobs (the lowest knob was by volume). It had a simple one-piece bridge, no tailpiece, and still no way to adjust the intonation. The only other way to influence the sound was a switch to emphasize the bass or treble. The model was available in one of two ‘Colorama’ colors, Sunshine Yellow (which was the H42/1) and Metallic Green (the H42/2). In 1957 the Newport sold for $ 69,95 and an additional $ 8.50 had to be deposited for the C44 guitarcase. The same model was also sold under the Silvertone label.