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Old 07-04-2011, 11:33 AM
Howard Klepper Howard Klepper is offline
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Location: Earthly Paradise of Northern California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Morgan1 View Post
But I don't think they resemble a harp. The strings of a harp are perpendicular to the soundboard but on a "harp" guitar, they are parallel, like a zither. Without frets under the "harp" portion of the guitar, they're exactly like a zither.

I still say they should be called zither guitars.
Zithers:





Harps:





Harp guitars:







Last, the "Harp-style zither":



The distinguishing feature of a harp would appear to be that the strings have their support on an arm that is free of the sound box, and this arm does not run underneath and parallel to the strings so that the strings can be shortened by pressing to the arm (i.e., not a "neck"). No harps I have seen have strings perpendicular to the sound board. Biblical or "lyre harps" have strings that run nearly parallel to the soundboard like a guitar's.
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Last edited by Howard Klepper; 07-04-2011 at 11:51 AM.
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