Harmony Sovereign Acoustic Deluxe 1203 1265 Martin Gibson Vintage X-brace parlor

Description

This guitar started life as a Harmony Sovereign model 1203. I do not know what year it was built because the only stamping was a partial model number stamped on top of the neck block. It looked to be of 1960’s era vintage. I bought the instrument originally as a parts guitar about 8 years ago because I wanted the neck for a separate project. However, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of the body because it was very nice apart from some significant humidity cracks on the soundboard. During some time off from work and after rediscovering several parts while emptying my (climate controlled) storage unit, I decided to see what I could put together. Offered here is what I came up with.
While I did do all the work on this guitar, I’d like to disclose that I am not currently considered a professional builder. I have been hobbying with woodworking since I was a teenager (~20 years), but I’ve been doing so with luthery for less than 10. That being said, on with the build details.
Original parts on this guitar from the Harmony factory are as follows:
Solid mahogany back/sides (with plastic back binding), spruce back/side braces, poplar neck/heel blocks, kerfing; rosewood bridge/fingerboard, frets, headstock plate, plastic end pin/bridge pins
Parts sourced/made/installed by me are as follows:
Sitka spruce soundboard / X-bracing, hard maple neck/end block reinforcement wedges, hard maple neck, Stewart MacDonald hot rod dual-action truss rod, mother of pearl fingerboard inlays, bone saddle/nut, plastic binding/perfling, Grover milk bottle tuners, laminated plastic pick guard/truss rod cover/heel plate.
I added additional side braces for increased rigidity using repurposed Harmony spruce as well as central back braces for good measure. All of the original back braces and kerf were secure and in great condition so they were left unmodified with the exception of refined brace shaping and cleaning up the old glue mess from the Harmony factory. There are two or three spots on the upper treble side bout where the kerf was slightly damaged during soundboard removal which were replaced. The neck/end block wedges were added to reinforce the poplar which seems to get a little spongey over time. The maple neck block reinforcement wedge also significantly adds to the stability of the neck and aids in sound/vibration transfer.
The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer. I used four different shades to create the sunburst effect rather than doing a Harmony style two color sunburst. Overall, the inspiration for this guitar was the Harmony Sovereign Deluxe model 1265. Somewhere along the way I ended up with an original headstock plate from that model which sparked the idea. I did not take great lengths to perfect the finish. Instead I opted for what I call a closet relic effect. I wanted it to look more like a very honest vintage Harmony rather than a made-over/re-manufactured Harmony. That being said, if a 100% perfect finish is what you’re looking for, this isn’t the guitar for you. I left a few dimples here and there, there are some spots that were left to look like shrunken lacquer marks, etc. I did not go so far as to add faux lacquer checking. I figured I’d leave that up to the new owner. However, it did shine up quite well and looks rather impressive in person.
If it is not apparent from the pictures, the action is set at 5/64 on the bass side and 3/64 on the treble side. The string height at the first fret is right around 0.020”. The original saddle slot was filled and recut using the StewMac fret calculator tool. The guitar is intonated as perfectly as possible. It can be tuned to itself and plays in tune all the way up the neck.
The sound of this guitar is phenomenal. I forward-shifted the X-brace to allow maximum resonance in the lower bout. The result is quite spectacular and, in my opinion, sounds as good as any other major brand of similar vintage. I will try to upload a short video of this guitar on my YouTube channel. I do not have any professional recording equipment so I don't know how beneficial it will be. My YouTube channel is called Lex Luthier.
Extra info: the frets were carefully removed and the fretboard was lightly surfaced to get rid of the factory milling marks. They were leveled and dressed as part of the normal setup process after being reinstalled. The neck has a Harmony-esque D shape similar to the original. The heel was left larger than original for added support. The original Harmony bridge had been lowered at some point so I laminated it with another piece of rosewood and lightly reshaped it to have a 9 mm bridge height. The bridge plate is hard maple. There is some fall away built into the fingerboard starting at the 15th fret. Protein based glues (hyde/fish) similar to the original were used for most glue joints. The guitar is set up with D'Addario heavy bottom/light top strings. Something like 10-56 gauge.
A non-period correct chipboard case (standard black) is included in the auction. I will ship this to the continental U.S. only. It will be properly packaged in a guitar shipping box, detuned and insured. No refunds will be offered so please ask any/all questions and be certain before bidding. If you are outside of the continental U.S. please contact me before participating in the auction. Thanks for looking and happy bidding!