1967 Harmony H1265 Sovereign Jumbo Flattop Guitar

While I'm actually working on a nearly-identical H1265 for consignment right now, this guitar was sent-in by its owner for sprucing-up and a trip home. I can't say I blame him for wanting a go at keeping it, though -- these sunburst, huge-pickguard, adjustable-bridge, bling-machines are eye-catching and they have a big, chunky, robust, loud sound in proportion to their outsized style.

I've worked on a few of this same model over the years and each one has been a fun guitar. This one is probably the cleanest example, too, save that I had to replace the missing pickguards on the top. I did manage to find some white-backed, red-tortoise pickguard materials to suit much of the original look, though.

This is a popular model, these days, with Ryan Adams (among others) rocking these on some pretty big stages around the world. The Sovereign line of Harmony boxes don't feel "cheap" like their downmarket stablemates, but they definitely have their own thing going on. Whether that agrees with you or not, they're undeniably cool guitars.

Work included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, saddle compensation, new replacement pickguards, general cleaning, and a setup with 54w-12 strings. The truss rod works, the neck is straight, and the guitar plays spot-on with 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE action at the 12th fret. Action height is easily changed via the adjustable saddle.

Specs are: 25 1/8" scale length, 1 3/4" nut width, 1 1/2" string spacing at the nut, 1 1/4" spacing at the bridge, 16 1/8" lower bout, 11 7/8" upper bout, and 4 3/8" side depth. The neck has a 12" radius to the board and a medium, C-shaped rear profile with fatter corners.

Materials are: solid spruce top (ladder-braced), solid mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard and bridge, and celluloid binding everywhere. The headstock veneer and truss cover are the original, multi-ply tortoise material.

Condition notes: replaced pickguards but otherwise original. There's light wear and use-evidence here and there throughout and a little finish muck-up around the pickguard edges. There's also a little chemical-dot spray at the back of the headstock and some cleaned-up roughness on the back of the neck from something similar.

The treble-side (bigger) pickguard is just a hair off-spec as I did not have material of the right type that was long enough to make it cut exactly like an original guard. It's roughly 1/4" too short lengthwise (for which I mildly-adjusted the design) but still looks authentic.

While many call this a "moustache" bridge, I always thought it looked a bit like an eagle.