Show us your Harp Guitar.
 

Since this concept of harp guitars is new to some I thought it might be good to show folks the different types of designs out there from traditional Dyer style to the more modern styles. Mine is a more modern style made by Duane Noble of Richland, Washington. The top is Alaska Bearclaw Spruce and the back is a forty year old Rosewood. It is double sided and has a cutaway, which seems to be a trend on more modern styles, (just my opinion), and it also has Duane's first fan fret on the guitar side. The "Oracle" symbol at the twelfth fret is an homage to Michael Hedges, who's always been an inspiration. For those who might wonder, the strings on my guitar side run 13-58/60 and the harp side from around 58-80.

-jay

ps. Randall, wanna see your new one! ;-)

http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/z...abbiecouch.jpg

Here are a couple of pictures from Gregg's listing. In the listing Gregg described this guitar as being one of the best sounding harp guitars on the planet. Now Gregg is a man of many words, but he probably knows more about harp guitars than anyone on the planet. It is an awesome sounding guitar, having 7 subs is pretty cool. having levers is also a vey handy addition.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps53c3g20o.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...psoetobnru.jpg

I would be amiss to not include the Karol in this thread. This is a great sounding harp guitar also, and it looks very cool.

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...121710_029.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...121710_019.jpg

This is mine, a Tonedevil S-12. Spruce top, mahogany back and sides, built-in passive pickup. I love it. :D Kudos to Anthony and David for making and selling an excellent and affordable harp guitar.

http://www.harpguitarmusic.com/image...tonedevil9.jpg

http://www.harpguitarmusic.com/image...tonedevil1.jpg

Hey Jeffrey, how's it sound with the Mahogany back? Nice looking guitar!

Randall, your new one is just gorgeous! I know your Karol is going to make someone really happy someday, what a great way to get into harp guitars!

-jay

Here's a Merrill Harp Guitar based on Stephen Bennett's Larson Brother's built
Dyer Style 4 harp guitar.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2393d7dd_k.jpgNort's Guitars 2009 058 by Norton Graham, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ce9b6714_k.jpgNort's Guitars 2009 053 by Norton Graham, on Flickr

Nice - that looks mint, Nort (Mr. Graham?) -what serial #?
My main playing HG is now Merrill #1 (SB's original, now pretty thrashed, but sounds as good as ever).

And replying to Jay who opened this thread with his Noble...
Another beauty.
I had a great time hanging with Duane (and wife Lolly) at SBAIC 2 weeks ago, and caught up on a lot of "Duane Noble harp guitar" lore:
He's now built 25 harp guitars! That's a lot for a one-man operation, and speaks to his popularity. (Calum Graham has ordered one "exactly like Antoine's")
I mentioned that I might want to archive his entire output on Harpguitars.net - as I do with Knutsen, and did with McCollum, as his are each different and often "custom." He may be missing good photos on some I fear.
I had forgotten about this - but am proud to know that he kept two of my suggestions standard: The size of the arm soundhole and the rounded back of the harp arm. These were first incorporated into the "not quite Gregg Miner signature model," seen here: http://www.harpguitarmusic.com/listings/hg-noble2.htm
He says the arm soundhole ended up at exactly half the size of the body's - he accidentally blew a stream of air across them and the pitch (the "jug blowing" effect) was exactly an octave higher on the arm. (perhaps something you can incorporate into your playing?!).
And of course, the lack of sub nut posts came from my old experiment with my Knutsen.
He also confirmed that his harp-uke body (including arm and bass head) IS exactly the same harp body, scaled down (at Kinkos!). He only had to alter the main neck and head for tenor uke requirements.
Here's mine:
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ef&oe=5860F6BF
The FB inlay is the end of the Dyer Style 8 tree o' life:
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...00&oe=586590EF
Back and sides of Madagascar rosewood (what we had planned to do an HG with, but he ran out):
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...0b&oe=5868F76E

Off to the Gathering at crack of dawn. Wish you all were!

Hello Greg,

This Merrill is #15, dated Oct. 2007, still a youngster at 9 yrs. old. :wink:

Stephen Sedgwick 21 string with cocobolo b&s and redwood top:

[IMG]http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/...pswxlzfvsv.jpg[/IMG]



http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/...psi7fuhdas.jpg


http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9ktfbsil.jpg

Nort, what a beautiful Merrill, like Gregg says, mint! Trespass, someday I would love to see how you maneuver that guitar. She's a beaut!

Gregg, great to see you here. Folks, for those who don't know Gregg Miner, he probably the world's most knowledgable authority on harp guitars. His website is a veritable treasure trove of information. Someday, my bucket list includes visiting his harp guitar museum.

Gregg, I'm almost embarrassed to say that most of the time when I play, (worship band settings two to three times a month,) I need to cover the sound holes up to play in the large band. Duane's guitar is almost too responsive so feedback can be an issue. When its just me and another guitar I can open things up and she really shines. Hopefully I can add more solo gigs in the future if I can find the time to write more material. Time... ;-)

-jay

Great to see Gregg here!

I love the sound, though I don't have anything but other 6-string guitars to compare it to, this is the only harp guitar I've owned or played. It's quite loud, and has a lovely resonance and presence that's like no 6-string acoustic I've ever played. I'm gradually picking up the use of the harp strings, which add a whole new dimension, but I find they spark creativity (as well as some of the resonance) even if I'm not particularly adept at using them.

Thanks, Jay and Randall. I've followed ACF for ages via my daily HG Googling of course. Figured it's time to bite the bullet.

I never imagined there would be a day when there were 3 harp guitars in my home. The Nobel belongs to my son, we acquired it with the help of Gregg.
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...psxbo24ckt.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...psoiz5utyg.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...psqhl73us0.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...pst5ufqjyy.jpg

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...psdvltcrnq.jpg

My long lost McCollum harp guitar might be coming home soon!

Randall, did you get the back fixed, buffed out?
-jay

We did get the back fixed. It actually looked a little worse in person than the pictures looked, but it was a great deal. There is a pretty well known repairman in NC, David Sheppard. We got him to do the work and it looks 100% better.
I would not automatically think that maple would be the ideal wood for a harp guitar but that one certainly sounds good.

I remember the wear mark on the back and its gone from those pics. Awesome repair job!

-jay

My 1917 Dyer Style 7:

http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...psded2e5ca.jpg

Oh my... that's just gorgeous! How's it sound?
-jay

Thanks!

Not the best of recordings, but it's what I've got:

My harp guitars......
 

I have six harp guitars, and I go around to schools, civic groups, senior centers, and anyplace else who will invite me to display, demonstrate, and talk about their histories. Here they are.....

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

From left to right: a 1914 Gibson Style U, a 1914 Dyer, an early 1900's F.W. Walton, a 1922 Coulter, a 2000 Wishnevsky, and a 2015 Wishnevsky. If you are in the Southeast part of the USA, maybe I can bring them your way sometime.

Here is my friend John Riley's harp guitars. Each one has an interesting story!

cotten

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...64518977_o.jpg

Welcome to the forum John

Thanks, Randall!

Sorry to miss HGG. But, I had to take advantage of the rare opportunity to visit California while Gregg wasn't there!

Actually, I'd long ago committed to giving a couple of talks at the Fretboard Summit, which occurred on the same weekend in San Diego. Plus, I inducted T Bone Burnett into my Buddy Holly Educational Foundation and got evidence of his good taste in literature.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...84&oe=588ACC78

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...9d&oe=58AC1817

Nice collection! I need to show this to my wife who doesn't understand the multiple guitar thing very well. ;-) Welcome to the forum!

Hey there JT! Don't know if you remember meeting my gal, the lefty player?

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...psterhr1p3.jpg

Anyhoo; while this isn't hers, it belongs to a friend.

http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/...3/DSC_4172.jpg

Jim,

I do! Small world. How are you?

First time I heard of a Harp Guitar was seeing Michael Hedges play one.

Hoffman harp guitar
 

Here's my Hoffman harp guitar, made by Charlie Hoffman of Minneapolis:

[IMG]https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5549/3...91c405d8_c.jpg[url=https://flic.kr/p/NMUm2U][/IMG]

Charlie had made several harp guitars by this point, but they all had 5 sub-bass strings. This is the first one he made with 6 sub-basses.

Favorite Build
 

Hey guys, I'm excited to see so much interest on this forum for the harp guitar! We got to meet JR in person at the Santa Barbara festival last Oct. I'm glad he started this thread, but I hope Gregg doesn't take down his HG forum, I'll be reminding myself to post there more.

At almost 100 serial numbers Tonedevil Guitars has had some interesting builds come through our shop, (our S-12 like Jeffrey's being the best seller) this is by far my personal favorite for playing and sound. A 12-string guitar neck with 6 subs, figured redwood top (which is becoming very popular among custom builders these days), rosewood binding, and black walnut back/sides. I have a 6x6 just like it (below) and was going to keep this one as my own, but as soon as I had this one almost built, a buyer contacted me that wanted one just like it, long story short it went to him and he is very pleased. I did however make a short demo video but have not got it to playback properly online after uploading, I'll try to re-render and get that posted when I have time. Thanks again for everyone keeping the harp guitar alive on this forum!

http://www.tonedevilharpguitars.com/...p-guitar11.jpg

http://www.tonedevilharpguitars.com/...DavePowell.jpg