1960s Harmony H1213 Rubber Bridge Electrified Archtop Guitar

This is a rather "plain Jane" archtop made by Harmony from the early '60s (judging by the bone nut, as the date-stamp is not visible inside the body anymore). It's got solid birch throughout the body and cool, low-brow styling -- painted "binding" and "purfling," and a weirdo yellowy-gold sunburst finish. I've tried to keep the pickup and harness install as faithful to the original looks as possible -- it's a bit of a hybrid Danelectro/Harmony look with the routed-in (no surround) pickup placement and cupcake knobs down on the lower-bout.

Now, this pickup arrangement is something I've always loved on archtop guitars, but the key ingredient to this instrument, of course, is the rubber bridge that gives it a damped, mellow, jazzy, marimba-like sound. With the tone "wide open" you get some percussive, snappy, marimba-ish sounds. With it rolled-off the guitar sounds quite a lot like an old '50s jazzbox with really dead flatwound strings (it's got roundwound 10s on it at the moment)

Post-repairs it plays perfectly, has adjustment room for action-height changes at the bridge, and is good to go.

Repairs included: seam re-repairs, brace regluing, a fret level/dress, side dots, replacement bridge with rubber top added, pickup install (routing) and wiring work, setup, etc.


Weight: 4 lbs 6 oz

Scale length: 25 1/8"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: 12"

Body width: 15 1/2"

Body depth: 3 3/8"


Body wood: solid birch

Bridge: adjustable, rubber saddle

Fretboard: ebonized mysterywood

Neck wood: poplar

Pickups: 1x Alnico lipstick-style Strat-sized single coil


Action height at 12th fret: 1/16” overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-lower


Condition notes: some of the back/side seams are a little mismatched. There's tons of finish wear and tear throughout (little scratches, loss of paint, etc), the bridge is a replacement, the pickup and wiring and knobs are unoriginal, but the rest is. Overall, though, it looks cool and the headstock stencil is in good order, too.


It comes with: sorry, no case.


Consignor tag: A26

















Comments

Try using a slide. Orangewood is selling rubber-bridged guitars now.
https://youtu.be/taOnKcz1-qk?si=nGtJeXNjE5KYn20I