1970s Harmony-made Silvertone 1221 Jumbo Guitar

I've worked on tons of old Harmony H1260 Sovereign guitars and their alternate versions, but my favorites have always been these iced-tea-sunburst Silvertone models. They sound just as good as the "normal" H1260s, but that light sunburst just looks so cool. This one has the alternate pickguard shape, too, with its "western" curls and points. The date stamp is illegible so I can't pin the year for sure, but a kind commenter told me that the reflective logo on this dates from late 1970-onwards. I figured it was late '60s to begin with.

This one came in with a crunch on the top and a bite taken out of the binding/side on the back. It also had a repaired (loose) brace on the lower bout. I gave it the "works" as usual, and post-work it plays like a champ and has a big, warm, folksy, woody sound. If you're into that "old Gibson J-45" vibe, these are great alternatives as they have a lot of mids present and an airy, full bottom-end. That's all the more surprising because these are ladder-braced -- but it's a very successful design.

Work included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, second repair to top cracks (added cleats and fill), repair to back-side damage, new Kluson-style tuners, and fill/recut of the saddle slot and a new, compensated bone saddle install. The neck is straight, the truss-rod works, and action is bang-on at 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret. String gauges are 54w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12 -- a hybrid between light/custom light. These can take "straight" 12s but I like to relieve tension in the middle when I can as they tend to sound better/feel more relaxed that way.

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/2"

String spacing at bridge: 2 5/16"

Body length: 19 7/8"

Lower bout width: 16 1/4"

Upper bout width: 12"

Side depth at endpin: 4 3/8"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back/sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: ladder

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: rosewood

Neck feel: medium C-shape, ~10" radius board

Condition notes: there are a cluster of small top cracks (repaired) on the lower bout, there's a gouge-out at the side binding on the back (repaired), and there's the usual mild weather-check and finish-cracking throughout as well. The back has some little white spots/finish blem here and there, too. Aside from the tuners and saddle, the guitar is all-original.

The top has a lot of gorgeous "bearclaw" figure to it.

Harmony never installed the saddle slots correctly on any of the guitars I've had the pleasure to work on, so this got the usual saddle-slot fill job... plus recut in the right place for drop-in load and a new bone saddle. There's plenty of height on the saddle, too, for future action adjustments.

Here's the gouge-out at the binding area on the rear. I smoothed the edges and added a little fill in places where it might get chipped-out from rubbing against things, so it's a non-issue, now -- just a "beauty mark."