A "Sovereign" lacking "Harmony"
Feb 18, 2024 17:08:33 GMT
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Post by ocarolan on Feb 18, 2024 17:08:33 GMT
A friend ran this one by me the other evening, having retrieved it from his loft, it not having been played for 20 years or so -
He had bought it new for his wife (what a lovely man!) in the early 1980s at a cost of around £100. It has the looks of a jumbo Harmony Sovereign (H1251) but downsized, and is a different shape from the roughly OM sized Harmony Sovereign H1203. It has ladder bracing, just like Harmony used. The string through bridge has the Harmony shape, though isn't esp well made.
There is no "Harmony" on the headstock, just Sovereign. Not surprising since Harmony went broke in the early 1970s. Various Asian companies continued to make guitars using Harmony and/or Sovereign as a brand, but this guitar has a truss rod cover marked "Made in USA".
In the early 1990 it suffered some huge splits as a result of being crammed in a full car and the bootlid slammed! My friend reglued it , and reattached the bridge to make it usable.
The internal label has long since disappeared.
Over the years of non-use it has bellied behind the bridge considerably, and although the bridge has tilted, the top has not sunk much it front of it. Having put some new 11-50 strings on it and tuned a semitone lower than standard, the 12th fret action is 4mm. It is just about playable, though not with ease, over the first three frets, and the intonation, amazingly , is not too bad.
The headstock facing is celluloid or similar and is starting to peel off a lot at the corners. The celluloid pickguard is slightly detached at the bridge end as a result of the top distortion.
The bridge string holes are erratically spaced, both horizontally and vertically.
Is there any good news? Yes, the top is solid (and possibly the b/s too) and it sounds not bad at all with a pleasant tone and loads of volume.
My question - anyone got any more idea than I have about the guitar's origins? I reckon it is most likely Asian in origin, using up old Harmony bits like the truss rod cover....
Obvs a neck reset and some bridge work might restore some playability but...
Keith
He had bought it new for his wife (what a lovely man!) in the early 1980s at a cost of around £100. It has the looks of a jumbo Harmony Sovereign (H1251) but downsized, and is a different shape from the roughly OM sized Harmony Sovereign H1203. It has ladder bracing, just like Harmony used. The string through bridge has the Harmony shape, though isn't esp well made.
There is no "Harmony" on the headstock, just Sovereign. Not surprising since Harmony went broke in the early 1970s. Various Asian companies continued to make guitars using Harmony and/or Sovereign as a brand, but this guitar has a truss rod cover marked "Made in USA".
In the early 1990 it suffered some huge splits as a result of being crammed in a full car and the bootlid slammed! My friend reglued it , and reattached the bridge to make it usable.
The internal label has long since disappeared.
Over the years of non-use it has bellied behind the bridge considerably, and although the bridge has tilted, the top has not sunk much it front of it. Having put some new 11-50 strings on it and tuned a semitone lower than standard, the 12th fret action is 4mm. It is just about playable, though not with ease, over the first three frets, and the intonation, amazingly , is not too bad.
The headstock facing is celluloid or similar and is starting to peel off a lot at the corners. The celluloid pickguard is slightly detached at the bridge end as a result of the top distortion.
The bridge string holes are erratically spaced, both horizontally and vertically.
Is there any good news? Yes, the top is solid (and possibly the b/s too) and it sounds not bad at all with a pleasant tone and loads of volume.
My question - anyone got any more idea than I have about the guitar's origins? I reckon it is most likely Asian in origin, using up old Harmony bits like the truss rod cover....
Obvs a neck reset and some bridge work might restore some playability but...
Keith