Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

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MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by MaineGeezer »

Keith's rebuild project has inspired me to post some pictures of my latest debacle, modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260 "Jumbo." It started out as a neck reset, but it's sort of gotten out of hand.

First, a brief history of the guitar. A friend of mine bought it in I think the spring of 1965, when we were both seniors in high school. It may have been the previous fall, but it doesn't matter. List price for the guitar was $85.00. My friend got it on sale for $69.00.
A few years later, after we graduated from college and got jobs and money, my friend lusted after a Martin D-18. He bought a D-18 and sold me the Harmony Sovereign, say around 1972. I've owned it ever since. It is now about 53 years old.

Like many guitars of that age, it needed a neck reset. I finally got up the courage to try that, and a few days ago I took the neck off, reasonably cleanly. I sanded down the mating faces on the heel to angle the neck back enough to get the action where it should be. A sane person would at that point have reinstalled the neck. I had Ideas.

For one thing, the neck had a certain essence of baseball bat about it. While I had the neck off, it was a perfect time to shave a bit off the back of the neck to thin it down to a better profile.

Shaving down the neck took the finish off where I shaved it, of course. I doubted very much if I could refinish just those areas and have them come anywhere close to blending in with the original finish...so I scraped the finish off the entire neck and will refinish the whole thing. A this point the question arose, 'Should I refinish the body too?" So far I've resisted that idea. The neck and body don't match, but from a hundred yards away it's not noticeable. In fact, it's better than that. They are close enough so they look quite good together. Guitar necks and bodies frequently look diffremt, anyway.

Then there were the stories and rumors I'd heard: "If you change the bracing form the factory ladder bracing to X bracing, it turns a Harmony Sovereign into a Martin killer!" Well, I have no need or desire to kill Martins, but my curiosity certainly wanted to find out if it was true. So I took the back off.

Doing so made it very obvious that Harmony guitars were mass-produced and built cheaply. The bracing is mostly rough-sawn and approximately the size of 2x4s. (Maybe not quite that big...) I shaved down the braces on the back to lighten them up. They're probably still too heavy, but it should help.

I took the ladder bracing and bridge plate off the top. I'm now in the process of gluing on X bracing. I couldn't find any specs for replacement X bracing in a Harmony Sovereign 1260, so I made it up, based on "typical;" X bracing in other guitars.

So that's the current state of it. Here are a couple of photos. More to come.
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Diane Kauffmds
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

It's looking good Steve. It looks like your pretty much ready to attach the back. Don't be surprised if the back doesn't fit quite the same as it did. The sides will have changed shape a bit.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by MaineGeezer »

Oh -- one other idea I thought about and ultimately rejected. The guitar has a pinless bridge. For a while I was thinking about replacing it with a pin bridge. I did a bit of investigation though, and discovered that some fairly well-known makers (e.g. Breedlove) use pinless bridges and there is no particular indication that it sounds any worse (or better) than a pin bridge. So I decided to leave it as-is. The bridge has been on there 53 years with no sign of movement, so it may as well stay.

I will have to fix the hole for the low E string. One end of the hole is breaking through the top of the bridge. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to deal with that. I'd like to enlarge the hole a bit, put in a rosewood plug, and re-drill it. If the bridge wasn't on the guitar that would be pretty easy, but doing it with the bridge on the guitar will be inconvenient.
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Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
phavriluk
Posts: 554
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:49 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by phavriluk »

One person's opinion: Looks to me as if the 'wandering' hole was drilled a mite bit high way back when. It's stood the test of time, as other comments suggested about the bridge. I don't see any damage getting worse, at least in the picture posted.

Maybe if it ain't broke, don't fix it?
peter havriluk
MaineGeezer
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by MaineGeezer »

More thorough examination suggests that you are correct -- the hole was mis-drilled to begin with. That being the case, "leave it alone" has a lot going for it.
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
Diane Kauffmds
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

It's drilled too high, but has lasted this long. I don't like using sharp mechanical devices anywhere near a top, unless I have no choice. Murphy and his law, are on my heel every step I take, so I try not to give him any ammunition. I'd leave it alone.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1711
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by MaineGeezer »

I intended to save the old finish, but ultimately I decided to strip the back and sides. I scraped off the old finish with a scraper. The alternative would have been to take it off with lacquer thinner, but that tends to get messy. I am keeping the finish on the top, dings and all, as a record of its history. I also don't want to remove the bridge.

Here is a photo of the current state of the back. After sanding, I put on a coat of shellac, then filled the surface with Aqua-Coat grain filler. Then more sanding. Then more shellac. Then more grain filler in the depressions that didn't get fully filled the first time. Then more sanding. Then more shellac. It's coming along fairly well. I'm going to try French polishing, again, and see if I can get it right this time. After finishing eight assorted instruments, getting a really good finish remains a challenge. (I can't tape drywall joints particularly well, either; I don't know if there is any relationship or not.)
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Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
Kbore
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Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:58 pm
Location: St. Louis area

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by Kbore »

MaineGeezer wrote: (I can't tape drywall joints particularly well, either; I don't know if there is any relationship or not.)
If there is a relationship, then I'm in trouble. Looking good.
Measure Twice,

Karl B
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Modifying a Harmony Sovereign 1260

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

Well, I CAN tape drywall joints, and I can tell you without a doubt that there is no relationship.

Looking good Steve.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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