After reading the article about Scott Baxendale and converting old Harmony's from ladder to X braced I was fired up. When can I start???
Then I checked the local CraigsList and found a good looking Harmony Sovereign H1260! They were asking $150, although it was put up 25 days ago. I offered $100. The countered $120. SOLD!!!! I met him later that day. He also had a 1975 Yamaha FG-75 with the highest action I've ever seen! You could stick a pencil under the strings at the last frets!! I told him it's worth $100-$150 in excellent condition and playable. In it's condition it really isn't worth anything. I offered $20 and it was rejected. Oh well, I don't need another project.
When I got home I found 3 printed pages in the case from Reverb.com with prices of H1260's ranging from $425 to $900. I'm not sure why they sold this H1260 so cheap, other than the 5/32" high action and a slight bulge behind the bridge. I'll do a neck reset and could sell it for $600-$800. But I won't. It's a keeper. I also won't be converting this guitar any time soon. I need to practice on a few lesser models.
LOL. I have a bit of an obsession with Harmony too. I'm not sure I'll do the x-brace conversion, though that is a thought. I have some repeats in this inventory list and I'll probably give it a shot eventually. A local vintage guitar shop made a deal with Baxendale and is trying to move H162/H165 at $1,000. I'll be interested to see if that works out. 1270 1260 168 165 162 942 1215
LOL. I have a bit of an obsession with Harmony too. I'm not sure I'll do the x-brace conversion, though that is a thought. I have some repeats in this inventory list and I'll probably give it a shot eventually. A local vintage guitar shop made a deal with Baxendale and is trying to move H162/H165 at $1,000. I'll be interested to see if that works out. 1270 1260 168 165 162 942 1215
COOL!!! I wish I had one of his conversions close to me to see if the hype is justified. $1000 is a lot of money for what was an inexpensive guitar in it's day. I'm still tempted to get the 000 size Sovereign, and a couple of H162/165's. Maybe even find one of the older "figure 8" versions! But, my goal this year is to NOT buy any guitars. I need to fix what I have, which is plenty.
The name of the store is Thunder Road Guitars in Portland OR. I stopped in today and apparently the Baxendale conversions are selling. He does a nice job. In addition to the bracing changes they add their own sticker in the usual place. Cool idea since the MIA Harmony's didn't have stickers.
The name of the store is Thunder Road Guitars in Portland OR. I stopped in today and apparently the Baxendale conversions are selling. He does a nice job. In addition to the bracing changes they add their own sticker in the usual place. Cool idea since the MIA Harmony's didn't have stickers.
DAMN!! That's about 3000 miles away!!
He's posted enough pictures that I'm sure I could do a pretty good job duplicating it. But that's a very involved & long process for someone who's never done it before. Maybe someday.