1960′ Airline 7032 / Harmony Sovereign H1260

Here we have a super clean, crack-free example of Harmony’s flagship acoustic model: the Sovereign H1260.

It features the large “jumbo” body, 16″ wide at the lower bout.

As usual with Harmony, they were not trying to copy anyone else, but make their own thing. More power to them! The body shape is somewhat like a Martin dreadnought body with large waist, but rounder at the upper bout, reminiscent of a round-shoulder Gibson.

Actually, this one is labeled Airline and was sold through the mail order giant Montgomery Ward, but it’s basically the very same model as the H1260. Only difference is the bridge and the headstock logo.

The bridge on the Airline version has a smaller footprint than the Harmony version, which ‘might’ help the tone a bit (see how the J45 and J50 from the late 1940′ are more desirable when they carry the small rectangular bridge Vs. the bigger belly-up bridge). It’s a very elegant design made out of Brazilian Rosewood. Harmony was also using this bridge on the smaller auditorium size (roughly 000) H1203.

String spacing is a generous 57 mm from E to E, wide enough to easily fingerpick. The saddle has been compensated for a perfect intonation all the way up the neck.

The other difference is the logo. The Airline doesn’t have the funky shmoltzy plastic Sovereign headstock overlay (which often comes unglued or deteriorates), but a simple and elegant silk-screened logo. Me likey!

Beautiful headstock too, with a black truss-rod cover. Pretty unusual eh?

And no fretwear, even on the first frets “cowboy” position.

Here we can see the Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. Heck, this guitar was the top of the line so it featured the best woods they could get. The fingerboard position dots are genuine pearl inlays.

Talking about materials and woods, here is the (solid) spruce top. I’d bet it’s Sitka, as it’s the only spruce that was used for guitar making these days. And very pretty too, with tight and regular growth lines. Overall a very pretty top, just as pretty as a Martin style 18 top from the same era.

The back and sides are made out of solid genuine Mahogany, stained dark to bring out the beauty of the wood, and most likely, to make it look more “rosewoody”.

Here we can see the pretty one-piece back. Yes, one-piece solid mahogany back. I let you imagine the size of the tree it comes from.

Endpins are cool. Especially when they have nicely yellowed with time.

It has a nice low action and perfect playability. I wish they were all treated like this.

This is the worst ding you’ll see on this guitar: a 4 cm ding in the finish. The wood below is intact and the whole instrument is crack-free.

Let’s get into the hardware. The tuners are the original Waverly, used on most Harmony products of the era. They work dandy, turn smoothly and hold tune perfectly well. Martin also used those tuners on some of their lower end models back in the 1940′ to 1960′ (think style 17 or 15 guitars).

The pickguard is a super pretty tortoise celluloid material, nicely beveled. It’s more colorful than the late 1960′ material.

The rosette is a simple one, much like Martin style 18 of the era.

The binding is more elaborate, like Martin style 28 of the era.

And here’s a 1962 catalog shot of the H1260. A whooping 72.50$! They say the neck is “Slim Line” but it’s actually a pretty fat neck, very reminiscent of the typical 1950′ Gibson rounded profile, only wider at the nut (44mm). And you can play folk and western music on it. You bet.

And the typical Harmony glue drops! This, folks, is genuine hide glue (a 1500$ upcharge at the Martin Custom Shop nowadays). The serial number is not visible on this guitar so there’s no way to date it precisely. The pickguard material leads me to think it was made in the early to mid 1960′, as by 1968 or 1969 they switched to black pickguards.

The sound of this ladder braced jumbo might be the best thing about it. It has a balanced voice from bass to treble and resonates extremely well, only like an old played-in guitar can. The bass is warm and fat and the treble is thick and punchy, more Gibson than Martin. A bit less sustain than your average Martin dreadnought, but a great power, punch and clarity. Lotsa midrange presence too. Overall, a great vintage sound that is quite unique. I still feel those old higher-end Harmonys represent the best value in the vintage guitar world. Amazing tone-per-buck ratio, when the older D-18 and J45 are out of range for most folks.

Finally, here is some vintage footage of Roscoe Holcomb playing his H1260. He sure could fingerpick and sing the high lonesome sound.