1945 Harmony H1203 Sovereign "Figure 8" 000-Size Guitar

Tone: This one has a strangely-full, woody, and plainspoken voice. I think of these as fingerpicking guitars first but they do well chugging-along with flatpicked work, too. They're light in build, though, so you have to be careful not to lean into them too much or you will get that ladder-braced, compressed, woof as it flattens-out when driven hard. That's very much a country-blues picker tone, though, so -- you know, your mileage may vary...!

Feel: The neck is a fuller C shape with a 1 11/16" nut width. It has the typical (wide) Harmony string spacing. The whole guitar is light and it feels like having a "small jumbo" in your lap.

Interesting features: This is the "Figure 8" version of the Harmony H1203 Sovereign and it's a much-desired old beastie with its cool, mini-jumbo-shaped body outline. These have a sound somewhere between a Kalamazoo KG-11 and a typical Harmony flattop and so they're well-suited to a whole variety of retro playing-styles. It's original save for nut, bridge, and pins and it has a ton of usewear throughout the body that simply looks great.

Repairs included: Jose and I did a neck reset on it and then tag-teamed making a replacement bridge as well. He made the new nut and saddle, gave it a level/dress of the frets, and set it up and fit replacement pins. It's playing bang-on and ready to go, with room at the saddle for adjustments.

• Maker: Harmony
• Model: H1203 "figure 8" (early version)
• Body style: 000/mini-jumbo
• Weight: 3 lbs 7 oz
• Scale length: 25 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 11/16"
• Neck shape: medium-full C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 14 7/8"
• Body depth: 3 7/8"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: rosewood (new)
• Fretboard: rosewood
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 54w-12 lights
• Truss rod: non-adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium/lower

Condition notes: It has a ton of pickwear and scratches and usewear to the top. The back, sides, and neck show mild small dings and scratches here and there throughout. There's a small hairline crack or two in the sides that have been repaired but they just look like grain in the photos -- no worries on those. There are also small repairs done to seams on the back/side joint near the endblock.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MM