For your consideration a 1959-61 Harmony Espanada updated for the player!
 
Ok, before the purists go nuts….. it was not that long ago that these uber cool guitars were stripped of their pots, pickups and parts to rebuild old Gibsons. Before that many had the pickups swapped out to make them “better” jazz boxes. The P13 pickups were seen as dated and dark by the jazz community . But the P13 Gibson pickups were sold to Harmony when they were replaced by the P90 in the Gibson guitars. Harmony used these pickups in guitars that today are cherished, the Espanada, H63, H62 and H52 to name a few. Many find them superior to an old P90 with growling warm deep tones, that can be run a bit cleaner than a P90. We happen to agree,  Regardless they are a worthy pre-humbuckers time-capsule, being Gibson’s 2nd commercial pickup for the electric guitar.
 
If you’re looking for a jazz upgrade to the Espanada (Tommy Doyle low z pickups) , or an all original  Silverton H63 version we have those, see the site, but this is neither of those.
 
The owner was lucky enough to find a stripped Espanada (the husk) and a pair of P13 pickups (that meet spec) from the late 1950-60s. From that a dream was born, inspired by Jack White (White Stripes) and Mathew Stubbs (Charle Musselwhite’s band and GA20). These player have made a career and some cool and timely music utilizing Harmony designed and built instruments. However, keeping an all original 60-65 year old vintage Harmony running with the rigors of gigging can be a challenge.
So if you have, the core (body and pickups) but not the parts. why not tastefully modernize and improve…
 
So:
1. The neck pocket was sured up.
2. The dovetail was partially rebuilt to give a better fit to the pocket.
3. A proper neck reset lowered the action.
4. The height of the neck extension was substantial lowered.
5. This gave an action 3-5/64 range with no heel gap and gentle but effective fall away.
6. A modern Les Paul style switch and 500K pots were wired with new cloth wire or shielded wire where appropriate.
7. A stout ground wire was added (so as not to break with time) to the trapeze.
8. New open back Grover tuners.
9. A repair of player wear on the neck, and lacquer touch up to enhance playing and neck feel.
10. Nursing of the neck binding
11. New cupcake knobs.
FYI we left all the mojo and laquer checking.
 
12.  As with everyone one of these we have owned , worked on or played an issue with top sag must be addressed. In working with these we have designed a double I-beam support.  That device supports both the areas between the pickups and the bridge.  
It eliminates the sag, helps a bit with feedback and will stabilize the guitar for years to come.  While glued in place, it can be removed. 
We have owned, sold and played a number of Harmony, Silverton or SS Stewart versions of this guitar (we loved them all) but this is the best sounding and playing of the bunch.   We would like to think that this is what Harmony had in mind when they built this beauty.  A must play and see.   A slow blues or jump blues marvel.
 
Cheers