Remember when I used to blog once a day? I don’t. It must have been an alternate universe; I can just keep up with one a week at this point. But not this week, ergo this “stall tactics” place filler blog. Feel free to wait until next issue, as this may be too much ado [...]
Continuing the saga of the mother of all harp guitars − Fred Carlson’s outrageous Humanitar − here’s the complete photo journal of our trip to witness the official performance debut of what Acoustic Guitar called “Dali-like playfulness” featuring Alex de Grassi (and friends). Photos are by Bina Titus or myself, unless otherwise noted. Frank and [...]
Not only from the mind of Fred Carlson, but from the workshop of Fred Carlson. He’s made stunningly creative harp guitars that are both exquisite musical instruments and works of art. He’s invented imaginary musical instruments, captured in poetry and woodcuts. (A Luthier’s Alphabet of Imaginary Instruments available from the Guild of American Luthiers) And [...]
Flipping through the February 2014 Vintage Guitar magazine the other day at the newsstand, I ran across a new piece by George Gruhn on harp guitars; a short feature on a rare early Style R (that Gruhn currently has for sale). He puts it (#4626) at 1906, while I had it placed at c.1905 (as [...]
Last month I had a very exciting weekend when I finally got the opportunity to hold in my very own hands the two remaining (and mysterious) “Otto Anderson” harp guitars. For those new to this remarkable story, here’s a quick re-cap: From the beginning, we always assumed that harp guitar builder Chris Knutsen (above, in [...]
Congratulations to Joachim Csaikl, my friend from Payersbach, Austria, who has just released his first solo CD. Joachim has a tune each on our Further Beyond Six Strings and Christmas Present. It was rewarding to work with him on those projects and seeing his material develop. He’s now in full singer-songwriter mode with Crossing Borders! [...]
Exactly one year ago, I published the special Harpguitars.net article Black Harp Guitar Players in honor of Black History Month. This February I am again celebrating the topic with some recent new additions. Most of you are by now familiar with this famous Dyer player image, right? . . . . . . . . [...]
Never heard of him? Neither had I. No one has. He’s not only the earliest named harp guitarist in America we’ve unearthed to date, but may have actually “invented” the first fully American harp guitar in 1885. I recently discovered Flinn’s short and cryptic story in the August, 1917 issue of The Crescendo (along with [...]
Just recently, I learned of the instruments of Evan Binkley, which seem to land somewhere between the instruments of Fred Carlson and Steve Wishnevsky (I’ll let you decide which end of the scale). The one common thread I find between these dramatically different makers is that they’re all creating musical instruments that also serve as [...]
A couple months back, this beautiful c.1895 cabinet card sold on eBay (for a record price). I was sorry not to get it, mainly because I was hoping for a better scan; this one is frustratingly blurry. I did ask the seller about the white rectangle inlay in the last fret, and they assured me [...]
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