~1966 Harmony Sovereign Natural

Harmony Sovereign H1203 c1966 | $775 | (v2224) By the mid to late 1960s, many 'boomers' embracing the folk/hippie thing needed guitars. Harmony was supplying that need. The Harmony factory in Chicago built guitars for 'everyman', using mass production techniques to keep costs down. But solid woods were the order of the day, and there was plenty of skilled craftsman left in the old factory to produce a quality product. The Sovereign line was the top shelf offering featuring quality solid woods and plenty of attention to detail. The model H1203 was offered as a low-cost alternative to the Martin 000-18, affordable to even the most destitute of hippies!

The back and sides are a nicely figured mahogany. The top is spruce, ladder braced and features multiple layers of b/w/b binding and sound hole rings. The pick guard is faux-tortoise. The bridge is Brazilian rosewood and is the type designed to function without bridge pins, much like a classical bridge .. a quite clever and appreciated innovation from Harmony. The neck is magohany with an adjustable truss rod, carved in a modern 'C'-shape and bound in white celluloid. The headstock is painted black with the Harmony and Sovereign script, and features shield and crown motifs. But for a replaced plastic heel cap and saddle, the guitar is all original!

The body measures 15 3/16" across at the lower bout, approximately 000-size. The scale length is 25 5/16". The fingerboard measures 1 3/4" across at the nut and string spacing is 2 1/4" across at the saddle.

The neck was recently reset, saddle replaced, and the bridge re-glued. Frets were leveled and dressed.

The action is set comfortably at 6/64" and the guitar plays smoothly. The sound is big and full, and works well finger picked or flat picked.

Comes with a soft case.

Check out the sound clip!