1960s Harmony H1260 Sovereign Jumbo Flattop Guitar

Update 2021: this guitar was used on tour for a time but has become surplus for its owner as he has so many dang guitars! His loss -- it's now for sale. Back to the original (updated) description...

A customer of mine was going on tour and wanted to see if I could fix-up a funky/fun acoustic for him to use while backstage. Ok! He sent me a number of links to ailing old boxes -- some Harmony products, too -- and I said: hey, why not just get one of the Sovereigns hanging around here on consignment? We can turn it into what you're looking for! Hence: two birds with one guitar, right? That's what having a stockpile of cool consignor gear does for options, I suppose.

Because this needed to be road-worthy, it got the full treatment: a neck reset, bridge reglue, bridge modification to a pin-bridge (rather than annoying end-load/classical style) setup with drop-in saddle, pickguard reglue, new 18:1 Grover tuners at the headstock, a refret with jumbo/pyramid wire, and a good setup. Yeah, well -- of course it turned-out awesome! Bigger frets plus that tight 10" Harmony radius to the board feel great and the more massive frets also mean thicker tone, too.

It plays bang-on and sounds big and full with the airy, open, warm, chord-thumping tone you want from one of these. It does have some drop-damage crack repair on the back-lower-bout but is otherwise relatively clean for its age.

Repairs included: a neck reset, refret, bridge reglue and modification to drop-in saddle and pin-style setup, new bone saddle, new Grover 18:1 tuners, cleated back crack repairs, pickguard reglue, setup. Since it's been back I leveled/dressed the frets and set it up again.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 custom set (lights ok, too)

Neck shape: medium C/D

Board radius: ~10"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: jumbo

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Body width: 16 1/8"

Body depth: 4 3/8"

Weight: 4 lbs 6 oz

Condition notes: replaced tuners, modified bridge, non-original bridge pins, replaced saddle, added strap button. There are a cluster of back crack repairs from a drop, too. Otherwise it's pretty clean and in good order save minor usewear/scratches here and there. The fretboard extension over the body drops a bit compared to the rest of the board and the saddle is extra-tall. I fit the bridge pins pretty far to the rear of the bridge because of this -- to keep the break angle on the saddle a little lower. However, I've known this guitar for years and it arrived back just as stable and ready-to-go as when it left -- with no more (light) bellying than when it left, either.