Harp Guitar Players missing in action

If the harp guitar community had its own milk cartons, these guys would be on them.

Actually, not all these players are "missing in action." Some have seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth, some we haven't quite tracked down yet, others I've corresponded with and am waiting for more info to write them up (or not). These images are all from the Internet, and in some cases, we don't know who they are. In others cases, we don't know how much they actually play the instruments they appear with.

So this is the rogue's gallery. If you see yourself here, please write in! If you see someone you recognize, or know the whereabouts of, let us know!

- Gregg Miner (click on images to expand)

Bob Ault

Update, 2/2007: We finally tracked down Bob, and added him to the Honorable Mention section of the Players page. Bob is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, where he began entertaining audiences at age seven. Since then, he has performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall to distant Japan. He is a ragtime composer and plays 22 instruments, including church organ and harp guitar, a rare instrument of the ragtime era. Bob has served on the board of directors of the Scott Joplin Foundation in Sedalia, Missouri, and also as a substitute lecturer for Trebor Tichenor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Bob has studied thousands of vintage recordings and plays in a style based on the work of the musicians who played this joyous music over 90 years ago. He joined The Etcetera String Band of Kansas City, MO in 1992, and has occasionally played his Gibson harp guitar in performance (and plays his sub-basses!). -FD, GM

Jim Andrews

Jim has recorded 3 albums (instrumental and vocal) using a German schrammel guitar (Frank Doucette, who contributed the info to theMusic page, has a copy of one of them). We've been unable to track down Jim by his last known phone or address.

Mickey Fischer

This is (so far) the only photo I have ever seen of the fabled Mickey Fischer. The rumors are that he's been building and playing strange hybrid harp guitars since the 'seventies. I finally got an email for Mickey (now in northern California), and we've corresponded briefly, but have a long ways to go before I can obtain photos and info on the forty HGs he says he's built (there are 3 in the Galleries), and get other info. Mickey is often touring, in the past opening for Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt.

3/11/05: Benoit Meulle-Stef found another photo of Mickey - added to the Sightings page.

François Lemonnier

Benoît Meulle-Stef found this fellow on the site of Paris luthier Alain Quéguiner. François appears to have recorded a CD or two, but I haven't found a way to contact him to see if this harp guitar is on it. A nice photo of it is in the Form 5 gallery also. Alain doesn't appear to be interested in being included in the site, so has not yet been added to the Luthier page.

Sean MacLean

I found Sean on well-known luthier William Cumpiano's site here. About 1989, Bill built "the Remora" for Sean. It is an add-on electric sub-bass section for Sean's Martin guitar. Sean has one brief sound sample of it, and is hoping to record a new piece on it any day now. He says, "The answer about me as a regular harp-guitarist is a definite no, for now. I believe that will change as I record with the new system and get more and more excited. However, I don't imagine I'll become a touring performer on the instrument. Most likely, I'll write a concerto for it (I'm really a composer by trade) and record it. Last year an orchestral work of mine was performed by the BBC Symphony and recorded with a radio interview by BBC Radio 3. Since the experience was really heartwarming, I'm staying in touch with them about a future concerto."

Joe Myers

An old Google search turned up Joe, with an an AI electric harp guitar. More recently, Frank Doucette saw a write-up on Joe, now playing a Dyer in the Phoenix area (below). We're still hoping for Joe to respond to our queries.

Ekkehard Reisser (now Ekard Lind)

Here's a strange one! My German correspondent Andreas Stevens sent me an old article from Zupfmusik-Gitarre, 1975, with this image of a fascinating harp design (in Gallery: Forms: Other). Unable to read the article, I contacted the builder, renowned classical builder Dieter Hopf. Mr. Hopf tells the story:

"In the early seventies, Ekkehard Reisser asked me to build for him some prototypes of a guitar-like instrument he called a "Kytar." The last one we made is the one shown. Reisser did the rough design for body shape and additional sound boxes. All other details were up to me. He got the instrument, never paid for it and disappeared. After some years I found that he had changed his name to Ekard Lind and is living in Austria, close to Salzburg. I contacted him and he returned the instrument to me instead of paying for it. So I still own this "Kytar".

Andreas told me that Lind is now a dog trainer and I easily found him on the web, but he has not responded to my inquiries. This remarkable instrument, in the possession of Mr. Hopf all these years, may be available for purchase.

Francesco Taranto

Benoît Meulle-Stef unearthed this gentleman, who plays several historical guitars, including this Mozzani. I'm waiting to hear from him as of January, 2005.

Francesco's web site

Mike Wallace

I stumbled upon Mike on one of my "harp guitar" searches. Someone had a post about his Christmas album with harp guitar listed on it. When I called Mike, he admitted that, while he has two Dyers (one in repair), he has not yet really played it nor recorded with it. He's a very decent 6-string player, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

Doug Whittier

Doug, oh Doug, wherefore art thou?

Doug used to post the occasional message on the old Yahoo harp guitar Forum. You may remember his very distinctive instrument, which he built himself. I'm still hoping he joins our new community, and we get to hear that instrument someday!

Fareed Haque

We're still waiting to hear from Fareed to learn what he does with those interesting drone-type strings. Drone, plucked, sympathetic?

http://www.fareed.com/

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