Harmony H1260 Sovereign (X-braced )vs ‘64 Gibson J45, Martin HD35 and a Martin M36.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
- This is a comparison between my recent Resto-Mod Harmony H1260 (X-braced, Maple bridgeplate, thinned top) and a ‘64 Gibson J45, a ‘75 Martin D-35 (with Fwd shifted scalloped braving) and a Martin Custom 0000 M-36.
You decide, they are Apples, Oranges, Peaches and Pears… but the Harmony holds her own, IMO, for a budget 60’s Dept Store guitar!
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The Harmony sounds great and does hold it's own! But, I liked the tone of that J45 best.
Alot brighter n louder
I prefer the Harmony. 🤙🤙. But it sure would be nice to have all of em.
Knowing Brian so well, and his guitars, I put on high quality earphones and listened without looking. It is a fact that psychology plays a part when you see a guitar that you know is famous, expensive, or is known to be one of the greats, you will hear what your expectations expect to hear. Not so when not watching.
Doing so, I watched twice, and each guitar sounds gorgeous. The Martin M by far sounds the most different. Each guitar is different, but I can’t find the one that sounds better. The sweetness of that M, the bass chime of J45? The Sovereign is just as sweet as the rest.
In reality, it doesn’t matter when you have such great guitars. One tone blends into another perfectly. So I guess my point is, it comes down to how it feels to play once it’s established that they are all great tonally. Personally, like I explain to my wife, you just need one of each.
All sound great. That Harmony really cuts through on the high side. My ears are drawn to the Gibson on personal taste, but that would be entirely dependent on what I was doing. Another awesome guitar!
It's amazing how the same tune sounds different on each guitar!
I like the mellow sound of the Harmony. You have done wonders with it.
Nice demo of all four guitars. Definitely the Sovereign is holding it own and deserves a seat at the table. Every guitar is going to sound different that is just how wood and builts different goes. wouldn't throw any of them out. Probably pick them up as I fancy their company. Its all good. For the money its hard to beat the Harmony. The tip is going for the wood that is 40 years and older hard to beat time.
They all sound amazing that's what I love about guitars they all have a different voice
To toggle back and forth......Harmony 2:00 Gibson 2:36 D 35 3:03 M 36 3:38
by the way, I really like these kind of comparison videos, thanks for putting it on.
These Harmony Sovereigns are great guitars and I have converted a few to X braced, but I have to say ladder braced also has a useful tone that shouldn't be discounted. It's a dry, percussive bright tone that I can best describe as similar to Djanjo Reinhardt acoustic solo guitar in tone. Less boomy bass but better for recording and cutting through the mix. Which is probably why Jimmy Page used one for recording a lot of the acoustic passages on all those LZ albums. So whi convert one? Well they still are relatively inexpensive and use woods impossible to source on a new guitar today....so x-bracing one can create effectively a prewar D-18 and 1/10 the price. But if one doesn't need extensive work I sometimes will leave the bracing original.
I couldn’t agree with you more! While I really like the sound of my conversions, that midrange “percussive” tone is a wonderful thing. My ‘38 Gibson-built Recording King has a sound that’s just amazing for fingerpicked Blues or Ragtime.
I started doing these as a fun hobby, and it’s still just something fun for me. And my thoughts on doing the conversion is that it makes these old guitars a little more stable, and helps improve their overall “do everything”’tone for the average player.
Thanks for your comment, and thanks for watching.
I just resurrected an H1264 Jet Set from pawn shop hell. Fixed a crack and replaced missing pick guards and waxed the painted finish. I was not going to spend any money on it, but after hearing the large sound I just sent it for a neck reset. It already had a pin through bridge so someone loved it at some point. The large sound is what I noticed in the comparison and the balance of highs and lows compared to the other instruments. I believe Jimmy Page used a 1260 on the first 4 LZ albums although I have not seen a picture.
Sweet J45 sounds great
martins sound different and a little richer and more balanced. But there is not much between gibson and harmony. gibson maybe very slightly richer, but not by much. My money would be spent on the harmony. I see people trying to sell harmonys for top dollar, but they don't realise they're selling a potential project guitar that could be great, but is not there yet.
I have owned all of the above.. though stock.
Hrmony sounds great but the 45 is tops followed by the 36.
Harmony wins to my ears.. Is it for sale? I have been looking for a Sovereign h1260
How do the neck profiles compare. I had a 50's Harmony that had a big V neck
I have a harmony H1260 is not x braced do you do restorations requests?
I don’t really take in any work for people, this is just a hobby for me at this point. But thanks!
@@brianmcfarland4745 i appreciate you taking the time to reply do you mind if I ask you if you know as to what I should search for on Google for guitar restoration shops in New York I don’t know particularly know what to search for
@@brianmcfarland4745i really love how much love you put on making these harmonies sounds better please sir please help me please
I’m not sure who’s doing these around NY. There are a couple of folks on Reverb that I’ve seen advertising similar restoration jobs. The big name, who really pioneered the process, is Scott Baxendale. He is out in Santa Fe now, I think. Also, there is a shop on Reverb called Moonlight Luthiers. Might be worth Googling them both.
Another possibility in the central NJ area is to go see Buzz Levine at Lark Street Music in Teaneck. He is a wealth of Vintage guitar knowledge, he might have some ideas locally. Also, one of my own favorite shops! Tell Buzz I sent you!
Cheers
@@brianmcfarland4745 hahaha thank you so much i will tell him you sent me thanks!!!!