1960s Regal (Harmony H1203) 000-Size Guitar

Overview: While this has "Regal" on the headstock, it's a Harmony-made product (they bought the Regal brand after Regal went out of business in '53) and specifically a rebranded H1203 Sovereign model with a slightly different headstock shape and veneer and a differently-shaped bridge. The bridge and fretboard are ebonized maple on this rather than the rosewood of a Sovereign, but these appear to be the only real differences between the Sovereign version and this model.

Tone: It's a 000-size, ladder-braced guitar and has a midsy, punchy sound that's especially suited to fingerpicking or folk-style strumming. This one has bit more of a chunky, lower-mids thing going on, too, which is unusual for this type of Harmony-made guitar as they tend to be brighter overall.

Feel: It's typical Harmony all the way, here, with a medium-heft, full-C neck shape and tighter, 10" radius board. It handles roughly-similar to a late-'40s Gibson profile.

Interesting features: The pointy bridge and overly-large headstock shape are neat style cues. I also really like the neat truss cover shape used on the Regal-branded, Harmony products. During work, the saddle slot got converted into a drop-in slot and at the same time intonation was improved by relocating the slot a bit, so that's a definite improvement for ease-of-setup and use compared to the normal through-saddle slot on these bridges.

Repairs included: Ancel and I tag-teamed the neck reset, as I recall, and then he did the rest of the work -- a level/dress of the frets, cleaning, bridge reglue, pickguard reglue, new bone saddle, setup, and whatnot. It's playing spot-on and is ready to serve with plenty of adjustment room at the saddle for later action adjustments.

• Weight: 3 lbs 10 oz
• Scale length: 25 1/8"
• Nut width: 1 3/4"
• Neck shape: medium-full C
• Board radius: 10"
• Body width: 15 1/8"
• Body depth: 3 3/4"
• Top wood: solid spruce
• Back & sides wood: solid mahogany
• Bracing type: ladder
• Bridge: ebonized maple
• Fretboard: ebonized maple
• Neck wood: mahogany
• Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
• String gauges: 52w, 40w, 30w, 22w, 16, 12
• Truss rod: adjustable
• Neck relief: straight
• Fret style: medium-lower

Condition notes: It has finish weather-checking throughout. There are various scratches, scuffs, and dings here and there throughout. There's a little pickwear around the soundhole. It's completely original throughout except for a new, compensated bone saddle.

It comes with: Sorry, no case.

Consignor tag: MMK