Post by CTGull on Aug 8, 2020 6:32:10 GMT -5
Another Harmony Sovereign H1203 without an internal date code. A week ago I picked it up from a customer when delivering his 1967 FG-150 & 1970 FG-180 after neck resets. His story about the guitar - I purchased “Liz”, an early 1960’s Harmony Sovereign H1203 from a really nice guy in northeastern Maine. It had been his for “a while” and could not remember exactly when he got it. He played it locally and has unfortunately lost the ability to play due to health issues. He was selling his collection, included a vintage Gibson hollow body electric, Martin and Gibson acoustics. He had purchased it from another local guitarist some time in the past. Her name was “Liz” apparently and she had written this along with some art work on the outside of the case. I talked him down about 50% and we met in rural Maine at a gas station off I-95. The guitar was very good condition. The action was high however. The original case was included and in equally good condition given its age. It had the original music shop ID tag still on the handle. I cannot read the date stamp but the script Harmony logo, pickguard and long internal bracing under the bridge put it pre-1965. The serial number is visible but not helpful. There is a lots of cool finish checking on the body and neck. The bridge and saddle look healthy and unaltered. The neck is wonderfully shaped. It has that thumping mellow bass, round prominent mids and light bell-like high tones. A nice contrast to the powerful more aggressive tone of the vintage Yamahas.
The pickguard has fallen off but was included, I will re-attach it. As he said, it is very clean except for a lot of finish checking. The tuners are VERY hard to turn. The unique original bridge is .36" high, the saddle sticks out .07"/.06", the neck projects 5/32" below the bridge, and the action is 9/64" low E & 1/8" high E. Very high. There is about a 1/4" belly behind the bridge, the bridge is tipped forward, and there's over 1/16" dip around the soundhole, typical of 50+ year old acoustic guitars.
SORRY!! I went a little overkill on the pictures!
Here's my H1203 on the left.
The pickguard has fallen off but was included, I will re-attach it. As he said, it is very clean except for a lot of finish checking. The tuners are VERY hard to turn. The unique original bridge is .36" high, the saddle sticks out .07"/.06", the neck projects 5/32" below the bridge, and the action is 9/64" low E & 1/8" high E. Very high. There is about a 1/4" belly behind the bridge, the bridge is tipped forward, and there's over 1/16" dip around the soundhole, typical of 50+ year old acoustic guitars.
SORRY!! I went a little overkill on the pictures!
Here's my H1203 on the left.
