Category/Style Reference Chart

Simple - "Harp Guitars," "Hawaiian Guitars" (aka "Steel Guitars"), "Mandolins," "Ukuleles" and "Violins."

One confusing example could conceivably be the "Upper treble point, long hollow armed, convertible Harp Hawaiian guitars" (that was just for effect – I’ll make it simpler below).  While, at a glance, they look like harp guitars, they are actually "convertible" guitars for either "Spanish" or "Hawaiian" style set-up.  However, as they were produced in the Hawaiian music era, and many/most were originally set up with a permanent high nut solely for Hawaiian playing (and the "Spanish" set-up is not a comfortable guitar to play by any means), they are placed in the Hawaiian Guitar category.

2007: Looking back, I wish I would have used "Steel Guitars" rather than "Hawaiian Guitars" as Noe/Most established.  It is a little more general (non-music-specific) and also turns out to be the term Knutsen himself used.  When he added extra strings to his "pre-Weissenborn" instruments, he called them "harp steels" - a much better term than "Harp Hawaiian Guitar."  See Chris Knutsen: Harp Guitar Triple Threat.

2008: It seems I have to add an unexpected new Main Group: Spanish Guitars.  An original Knutsen 6-string guitar was found that had a standard neck heel, with no raised nut or "convertible" feature - presumably it would have been played as a standard guitar.  Rather than create new page, I include it within the Hawaiian Guitar page.  

I’ve broken harp guitars up into three main categories by city – Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Seattle – as major style changes coincide with each of these locations.  Note: we’ve recently come to realize that the Tacoma "Symphony" style harp guitars were definitely introduced during the last year or two of the Port Townsend period. However, I’m leaving them in the "Tacoma" category for simpler organization.  As far as we know so far, no harp guitars were built, or at least introduced, in Los Angeles.

As the years go by, models have been "pushed back" a bit, so that a larger number (and more versions) of harp guitars are known or suspected to have been built in Port Townsend.  Even more complicated are the many "Tacoma" labels, coded with a "TA#" - despite the designation, many of these labels definitely appeared in Port Townsend instruments, while many others could have been built in either city.

I’ve separated the Hawaiian (Steel) guitars into two main categories: "Convertible Guitars" and "Hollow Neck Hawaiian Guitars."  The "convertibles" have various forms of brackets to either adjust and set the neck angle, or to convert it as desired for either "Spanish" or "Hawaiian" style playing (i.e: fretted or slide).  The "hollow necks" include those with the typical "Weissenborn" shape, plus other rare forms like "teardrop" and "pineapple."  Note that the "hollow necks" of this group terminate at many different points – from the nut to about the seventh fret – so some may appear to have "square necks" (and perhaps, technically, do).  Until I see a need to draw a line (say, at the 10^th or 12^th fret), they will remain in the "hollow neck" category.

Mandolins are either "Harp Mandolins" of various styles (discussed next), "Harp Mandolas" (two so far!), "Harp Bandurrias" (newly discovered in February, 2003!), or just "Mandolins" (to cover the instrument pictured in the famous family photo, and anything similar that might come up).

Ukuleles are either "Harp Ukuleles" or "Harp Taropatches" (not that the latter term particularly rolls off the tongue!).

Violins are a brand new category featuring a single "One Armed Violin" and possible standard violins.

Harp Guitars: Refer to the chart below for the various strange new names I’ve chosen (albeit with a lot of thought and deliberation) to describe the different body styles.  I’m using "1896 Patent" and "1898 Patent" rather than Knutsen’s "One-armed guitar" to differentiate between the two basic body types of the Port Townsend period.  I then use Knutsen’s own "Symphony" name for the next group, but list certain models as "Evolving Symphony" because they differ in several ways from the relatively uniform (for Knutsen) "Symphony" shape and features.  There is also a newly discovered style I've labeled "Pre-Symphony" Harp Guitars - these are a "missing link" between the "Patent-style" guitars and the "Symphonys", and were built in Port Townsend.  For the endless and wild Seattle instruments, I eschew Knutsen’s own "11-string Harp Guitar", as many - even some with the "11-string" label - have many more than 11 strings or courses!   Instead, I try to use a descriptive term for the main body shapes – which, while having tremendous variation, seem to so far fall into the three general styles listed in the chart below.

Hawaiian Guitars: Again, by necessity, some strange new names: "Weissenborn-shaped" is used because it’s the most familiar term to the majority of us and the easiest way to describe the famous narrow, sloped upper shoulder shape we all know and love. The rest should be self-explanatory (refer to photos if unsure). I may have been the first (in my 1995 CD booklets) to coin the admittedly awkward term, "Harp Hawaiian Guitar" - so only have myself to blame.  Unfortunately, others followed suit (such as Brozman in the Tone Poems booklet, and Noe/Most).  I’m not a linguist, but was just using common sense.  For example, using the more eloquent "Hawaiian harp guitar" would incorrectly imply a standard harp guitar made in Hawaii.  Thus, "Harp Hawaiian Guitar" best designates a Hawaiian guitar, or "steel guitar", with additional "harp" strings.  As stated at the top, today, I prefer "Harp Steel Guitar."  I add "Harp" to distinguish those instruments from the six-string versions.

Mandolins: Fairly simple – four body styles for harp mandolins: "Lower Bass Point," "Lower Treble Point," and "Guitar-shaped, Lower Bass Point." The latter term was changed when a new "Guitar-shaped" model was discovered without a body point.  As in the harp guitars, I chose the terms "treble" and "bass" to refer to which side the pointed flare is on (rather than "right or left") to cover both right- and left-handed instruments.

Ukuleles: "Standard" is the only body style (so far) for harp ukes, as all are the same general shape.