Re: Harmony Sovereign 1201T
Aaron,
Doesn't hurt to look, although I think it would have to be a 1-in-a-hundred example or better to be worth $300.
I will say that I love old Harmony guitars, and own several flattops and archtops as old or older than '66, and I still look at many that appear for sale online. I'm partial to the H165. All Harmony-made guitars, until the early '70s when they were outsourced, are solid wood. The better flattops especially can have really pretty good sound. The downside is they are 99.9% guaranteed to have shortcomings and playability problems, UNLESS (and this would be a lucky break), a previous loving owner has already carried out a neck reset or other neck work on the guitar.
The line in your OP that jumps out at me is "in fine playing condition" - How have you been able to judge this, other than the seller's description? Until you see it, just take that with a handful of salt. This could be a real exception - except it most likely is not. I have really only ever seen a couple old Harmonies that were truly in good playing condition, although there are certainly some that are tolerably playable. But I continue to look at nearly every one that appears, in case it's a sleeper.
What I have learned over the years is that Harmony used very shallow neck angle, and very low saddles on the NEW flattops, so there is always very little room for adjustment. And of course the steel-reinforced necks bend just like on lots of other guitars. After 50 yrs the results can be expected. 99% will tend to have is a bad neck angle, excessive neck relief, or usually both. The saddle on this model, and others, is typically just a simple guitar fret set in the bridge, with no compensation done (or possible).
I really think a fair value guitar like this is ~$150 if it is tolerably playable, maybe a little more. I know one doesn't see many priced this way any more. But I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. Make sure it is tuned to pitch - doesn't matter so much what tuning - and look at, and measure, action and relief and try to judge whether it's acceptable and will be fun to play. If not, you might be better putting the same money into a Blueridge with a truss rod and nice tall saddle, even though it won't be as cool.
Last edited by acousticphd; Feb-02-2016 at 3:49pm.
Reason: typos
Jeff Rohrbough
"Listen louder, play softer"
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