1948 Harmony Sovereign H1203 Natural

Harmony Sovereign H1203 1948 | $675 | (v2347) Harmony guitars was owned by Sears, but in the early 1940s it was sold and moved to a new factory in Chicago, where the 'peoples' guitar was produced until the early 1970s. This example, a Sovereign, was made in 1948. What makes is stand out from the thousands of other H1203 models is its body shape. The early iterations of the 1203 jumbos had a figure-eight shape with a rounded upper bout, but was soon switched to the more common 'flat' upper bout. Harmony guitars build in the mid-to-late 40s lack a truss rod, likely due to the war efforts demand for steel.

The top and back are made from solid mahogany. The ladder-braced top is solid spruce featuring some 'bear claw' figuring, and is bound in white celluloid and b/w purfling, which is also repeated around the sound hole. The neck is mahognay and carved in a modern-feeling 'C'-shape. The fingerboard is Brazilian rosewood. The head stock is painted black, and sports the Harmony and Sovereign names, and a crown and shield. The bridge is Brazilian rosewood and features the classical guitar 'wrap'-style string attachment. The tuners are the open-back individual type but it appears that it had different tuners installed at one time. These early models lack a pick guard.

The body measures 15 5/16" across at the lower bout. Scale length is 25 1/4". The nut measures 1 3/4" with string spacing set at 2 1/4" at the saddle.

The guitar came to us with a previously reset neck, but had worked loose. Upon removal we noticed that the fingerboard had broken at the 14th fret from the earlier work. When we reattached the neck, we inserted a shim between the dovetail and neck block to secure against any undue neck stress. The bridge was reglued. A section of the back/side was glued. The frets were leveled and dressed. Along with various nicks and dings there are two small screw holes from what appears to have been an elevated pick guard, and a small screw hole in the back of the head stock that was likely an eyelet to attach a strap. Otherwise, the guitar is crack-free and solid. Action set a ~ 6/64".

The jumbo Harmonys are loud and thumpy blues guitars, and can really put out the sound with a pick.

Comes with a hard case!

Check out the sound clip!