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
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