Regal 235 (Sovereign H1260) / 1966 / The Stories You'll Tell!

Here is a 1966 Regal R235, in Very Good Condition, freshly restored with a full neck reset and professional set up.  The Regal 235 is, in actuality, a Harmony H1260 Sovereign with a different headstock overlay, and an inverted trapeze bridge. These guitars were made for one year, 1966, branded as Regals and distributed by Fender.  At the time, Harmony made many of the acoustic guitars branded as Fenders. After 1966, Fender expanded its own acoustic line of guitars.

Aside from the headstock overlay, a different pickguard, and the inverted trapeze bridge, this is a classic Harmony H1260 Sovereign, ladder braced with a solid Spruce Top and  Solid Honduran Mahogany Back and Sides (a one piece 16” back!). The Bridge is Brazilian Rosewood and the Fretboard, if it were a Harmony branded Sovereign, would certainly be, too.  This one may be a deeply stained Rosewood or, quite possibly,  “ebonized” Maple.  

Here are all the important Specs:

Top: Solid Spruce

Back and Sides: Honduran Mahogany

Neck: Honduran Mahogany

Fretboard: Rosewood or Ebonized Maple

Bridge: Brazilian Rosewood

Action at 12th fret: Low E 5/64” and High E 1/16”

Scale: 25 1/4”

Lower Bout: 16 1/8”

Upper Bout: 12”

Body Depth: 4 1/4”

Nut Width: 1 3/4”

String Spacing at Bridge: 2 1/4”

The Guitar is in Very Good Condition, with a very comfortable neck, and an excellent fretboard and frets.  The tuners are the original, open back Harmony tuners and they work well. The body exhibits a minor degree of finish crazing, entirely expected in a guitar of this vintage, and there are quite a few minor dings in the finish. There are no cracks, splits or open seams

On arrival at the shop, this Regal R235 needed primarily a neck reset and a set up.  We removed the neck, corrected the neck angle, shimmed and glued it back in place, adjusted the nut slot depths, leveled and crowned the frets, and made a new, bone saddle. Additionally, we lemon oiled the fretboard and bridge. The guitar has been strung with a fresh set of D’Addario Phosphor Bronze Lights (.012-.053).

This guitar plays with a fast action and has a big, warm voice. As with all of these Sovereigns, the bass response is full and round, and the treble is clear and crisp without being shrill.  Please note that the low E frets out at the 13th and 14th frets; we opted to keep the action as low as possible, and the fretting out of two rarely played notes struck us as acceptable.

As many know, the Harmony H1260 Sovereign was the flagship of the Harmony Acoustic Flat Top line, and is famous as the acoustic guitar played by Jimmy Page on “Stairway to Heaven.” These are great guitars for the stage or studio, with a very balanced tonal response across the fretboard.  Whether played with a pick or fingerstyle, this is a guitar with a quality of sound that rivals instruments made by Martin, Gibson and Guild, and which sell for thousands of dollars more.

Please be sure to check out the photos carefully and zoom in, as we have tried to capture this instrument from all angles.

This Regal R235 ships in its original lined, chipboard case, which is in very good overall condition, sporting a few scuffs but perfectly functional, with working hinges, handle and latches.

This Regal R235 is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless out arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Serial Number: faded and unreadable

Price: $1250.00 plus $145 shipping (Lower 48, USA only)