# Harmony Sovereign 1203



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

A friend of mine dropped this old 1203 Harmony off for me to have a look at. 
It's in pretty tough shape but he's owned it since new and it's been around the world with him. It's his baby, his one & only.







Really need a neck re-set in the worst way. 







It sounds great, pretty hard to play though.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Hard to find a 50s-60s Harmony that doesn't need a reset. My H1260 is awaiting the spare coin for a reset. Fortunately, the sloppy fit on the dovetails and HHG make these an easy reset, or so I've heard...(and hope)

Here's a link to a great harmony site
http://harmony.demont.net/model.php?id=26


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Scotty said:


> Hard to find a 50s-60s Harmony that doesn't need a reset. My H1260 is awaiting the spare coin for a reset. Fortunately, the sloppy fit on the dovetails and HHG make these an easy reset, or so I've heard...(and hope)
> 
> Here's a link to a greet harmony site
> http://harmony.demont.net/model.php?id=26


great link, thank you. Now that I know what the missing truss rod cover looked like, I can make another one.
I was going to try & get away with dropping the bridge as far as possible to make up for the neck but I can see that's not going to fly. It either gets a re-set or becomes a wall ornament.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

Everyone needs a slide guitar(?)


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

laristotle said:


> Everyone needs a slide guitar(?)


lol.....that's always an option for sure! The strings are approx. 1/2" off the heel of the fret board.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

is the neck straight? have you sighted it from the side? run a long straightedge
along the neck to the bridge to see how it lines up to the saddle. could it be a 
possible body top bulge? I had this problem with an 80's mansfield someone gave me 
because of the same 1/2 inch string height. the neck did need a reset (which 
I did), but, there was also body bow as well. what I did was pop off the bridge 
by gentle persuasion of a hot butter knife and sanded down the underside of the 
bridge by an 1/8 of an inch. it's my campfire guitar so it didn't bother me if I 
screwed up. the harmony's bridge looks thick enough that this may work for you.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

laristotle said:


> is the neck straight? have you sighted it from the side? run a long straightedge
> along the neck to the bridge to see how it lines up to the saddle. could it be a
> possible body top bulge? I had this problem with an 80's mansfield someone gave me
> because of the same 1/2 inch string height. the neck did need a reset (which
> ...


Yes, the neck is surprizingly straight and I'm glad. Truss rods on abused guitars of this age scare me. The top of the body around the heal of the neck bows down a noticable amount alright. Even with a reset it would require a shim I'm sure between the finger board and the top. Interesting idea about knocking down the height of the bridge. I'll check that out and see if it would be enough.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

That bridge does not look like it could be modified to go that much lower, especially if the strings come in from the end...not enough angle over the saddle? You need to lower it by at least quarter of an inch or so I would think.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2014)

though it may not look it, the low E is 5/16" above the 12th fret.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

dont know if it helps you any, but all the resets ive done on harmonys have involved little more than loosening the fretboard extension,
and a sharp tap with a rubber mallet on the heel- 
they just pop off.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

fraser said:


> dont know if it helps you any, but all the resets ive done on harmonys have involved little more than loosening the fretboard extension,
> and a sharp tap with a rubber mallet on the heel-
> they just pop off.


duely noted! thanks. Beats having a pull a fret and steam it anyday.


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

Lincoln said:


> duely noted! thanks. Beats having a pull a fret and steam it anyday.


oh for sure-
i have a steamer, but its real nice to avoid using it.
on the ones ive done, the youngest bieng a 69,
it was hide glue- and not a whole lot of it.
the heel portion seems to have only a few blotches of the stuff kind of haphazardly placed.
by the time the extension is loose, enough heat and moisture has weakened the stuff in the heel.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

There's dozens of you tube videos of people doing resets on old sovereigns. It appears that there is literally a gob of horse go in the bottom of the dovetails due to a sloppy fit. It appeared Harmony decided it was more productive to use a sloppy fit and lots of glue(??)

One video showed a guy fighting hard to remove the fret board from the top, but yours looks like its no longer attached. Is the fretboard delaminating from the neck?

As for the truss rod, some dummy broke mine (A younger me) 
It is easily replaceable however as it slips right out the end with a bit of wiggling. (See the Harmony-Detmont forum under kitchen lutherie link)


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