1972 Harmony H1264 "Jet Set" Sovereign Jumbo Guitar

These "Jet Set" black jumbos really don't pop up all that often as they were only made from 70-72. They're identical in specs to the lusty H1266 model, though they eschew mahogany for birch on the back and sides and go for a "tuxedo" look instead of a rhinestone-cowboy sunburst. They have a sound that's very similar, too -- big, wide, open, and full -- but with a bit more focus on the mids and a punchier attack... things to expect from birch as a secondary wood.

This guitar is original save for a new bone nut and lightly-reprofiled bridge. I gave it a neck reset, leveled/dressed the frets, glued the pickguards down on a couple corners, fussed a bit at the bridge, and set it up. It didn't need anything else and has zero cracks or evidence of past repairs. The finish is almost perfect, too, though there are a couple of rubbed-up spots on the top near the treble-side pickguard edges.

The setup is on-the-dot at 1/16" DGBE and 3/32" EA at the 12th fret. I have it strung with a set of 12s and the neck is straight and has barely any of the truss adjustment engaged. This has a 25 1/4" scale so the feel is more "Martin" tension-wise than "Gibson."

Even the headstock veneer goes "tuxedo" vs. the usual Sovereign tortoise veneer. I added a new bone nut as the original plastic one had a few slots cut far too deep. The nut width is 1 11/16" and the neck profile is a middling-sized flattened-C shape.

The board is Brazilian rosewood and has a 14"-ish radius. The original frets are in good order and the board is bound and has big-block pearloid inlay.

The masked-off rosette area is pretty wild and sports the classic Harmony-style, classical guitar-influenced rosette.

The big "mustache" or "eagle" bridge (that's what I see) has an adjustable saddle that's handy if you need to adjust your action on the fly. I reprofiled the saddle both for good compensation and to match the board radius a little better, added string ramps behind the saddle for better back-angle on the strings, and lightly reprofiled (and then dressed-up) the bridge top to allow for more travel up/down on the saddle before bottoming-out.

How do you like all that black and white?

These are big old ladder-braced guitars, and like the whole 60s/70s Sovereign jumbo line, they sound big and bold out in front.

Don't mind the reflections -- the finish is in excellent shape.

The tuners are original and work just fine.

There's also a couple little marks here on the back at the base of the headstock.

The heel cap is starting to outgas and deteriorate and that's super-common on these old Sovereigns. The tiny gap behind the heel cap and the binding is what happens when, during the neck reset, you remove all of the buffing compound that the Harmony factory put there when building this... (hee hee hee).

This instrument comes with a gigbag.