Knutsen Harp Hawaiian Guitar
Another very nice, fancy harp steel built within Knutsen's last three years. This specimen was doubly confusing, in that I received information and photos of it from two different owners at different times, and each set was incomplete. I had actually archived it as two specimens! When Ben Elder bought the instrument (from Gruhn Guitars) in July, 2008, he noticed that it was like "both" of the specimens. He and I were anxious to decipher the strange hodgepodge of clues, which I think we did. Later, when he consigned this instrument to my Harp Guitar Music commercial site, I was able to better photograph and verify all of our conclusions. A fascinating story! |
Later, someone tried stringing treble strings in two alternate locations. I conjecture that the first change - possibly done by Knutsen himself - was to install then on the opposite side, in place of the bass strings. This configuration must have had a different bridge - as they used the two bass pin holes, but added two more in between. These are clearly visible from underneath. I believe that the current bridge is the original one - retained and later re-installed.
These four bass-side trebles must have then been strung to a new puzzle piece in the upper left bout. As observed on inspected Knutsens, these are almost never inlaid, but full "puzzle" inserts into a hole in the top! It is possible that Knutsen may have had a blank decorative piece here already, or it may have been solid. Regardless, whatever the four zither pins were inserted into is now gone, and a new solid puzzle piece inlay resides there. No evidence of a pin block - even temporary - can be seen. The work of both added decorative "inlays" appears a bit sloppy even for Knutsen, but then, these were the last years of his life. Interestingly, they also seem to match the "pickguard" inlay and lower left decorative trim pretty closely - again pointing to Knutsen's shop. Note that when this left-side treble stringing was initially done, it was likely intended to be permanent, as the right-side pins were removed and the new piece of roughly matching inlay was installed. When the bass-side treble strings were tried, the bass harp bracket was not moved to the opposite side (as in my own HHW18), as there are no holes matching the spacing. But there are holes, and that brings us to our third treble iteration! |
Bass side "puzzle insert" to fill the space of an added-then-removed treble pin bank. |
My suspicion is that in the next iteration the original bridge was re-installed, the bass strings were re-installed, and the area containing the left-side treble pins was fitted with the new puzzle piece inlay. But what now to do with the treble strings? All the pins have been removed! The holes were/are still there in the old bridge on the right side....but instead of re-installing the right side body pins, someone (and this is almost certainly well after Knutsen's time) decided to just stick pins into the side of the guitar and run extra-long treble strings up to there! |
Click on a
picture to enlarge
(images copyright Gregg Miner)
Knutsen Archives Inventory Number |
HHW22 |
|
Category |
Hollow Neck Hawaiian Guitars |
|
Body Style |
"'Weissenborn-shaped' Harp Hawaiian" |
|
Current or last known owner |
Buster Jeremiah <> Dennis Lake > Gruhn Guitars > Ben Elder |
|
Year (approx) |
1927-1930 |
|
Label |
McDuff Street with harp-uke |
|
Label Code | LA11 | |
Courses / Strings |
12 > 8 course: 6 strings on neck, 2 bass, originally 4 treble |
|
Frets |
inlaid wood |
|
Scale length | 25" | |
Neck Joint | taper begins around the 1st fret | |
Woods |
Top |
spruce/koa |
Back & Sides |
koa or mahogany? |
|
Neck/Head |
fir |
|
Fingerboard |
koa |
|
Bridge |
mahogany |
|
Headstock veneer |
none |
|
Binding, trim |
Top |
rope |
Back |
rope |
|
Fingerboard |
two inlaid wood stripes |
|
Headstock(s) |
none |
|
Soundhole |
rope |
|
Inlay |
dot fret markers |
|
Pickguard |
koa |
|
Dimensions | Upper Bout | 9-1/2" |
Lower Bout | 15-1/4" | |
Body at endpin | 3-1/2" | |
Comments |
|
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All Site Contents Copyright © Gregg Miner, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008. All Rights Reserved.
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