1957 Harmony H44 Stratotone

 In the early-'50s, the electric guitar was just getting started. Fender debuted the Broadcaster in 1950, and then in 1952 Gibson rolled out the Les Paul. That same year, Harmony introduced the H44 Stratotone—a department-store electric guitar designed with budget in mind. While the Les Paul was a high-end, fancy model, the Stratotone was more in line with Leo Fender's streamlined approach. But Harmony went way further and was even cheaper—this is a guitar for the people! The H44 Stratotone features a unique neck-through design that eliminates the need for a labor-intensive hand-fit neck joint (or any kind of neck joint for that matter). Essentially, the neck runs straight from the headstock to endpin. Then, two wings are glued to either side, forming the body. The single pickup with switchable on/off tone knob kept costs down as well, but much like other single-pickup guitars from the era, the simple setup provides more variability than you might expect. In the early-'50s, the H44 wa