Harp Guitar Historical Timeline of Signifcant Events, offered to Members only

1650			1659, Italy: The first true harp guitar, a "chitarra tiorbata" (theorboed guitar) makes an appearance in a score by Granta. It must have been a rare experiment, as nothing more is heard or seen of the harp guitar concept for over a hundred years.

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1760			1760s, France: The first modern (six strings on the neck) theorboed guitars begin to appear.

1770
1780			1782, France: Deleplanque's theorboed guitar is the earliest known datable surviving harp guitar.
1780			c.1785, Paris: Luthiers Moutron and Savains both make double arch guitars (two theorboed guitar necks on one instrument).

1790			c.1790, Granada: Rafael Vallejo builds an early guitar with a large bank of treble strings.

1800
1810
1820			1820s: Various experimental harp guitars are seen in England and elsewhere.
1820			1826, Paris: Guitar virtuoso Carulli and luthier Lacote create and patent the decacorde, a unique ten-string harp guitar. The first guitar virtuosos begin incorporating additional floating strings into their repertoire (Carulli, Sor, Giuliani).

1830			c.1830, Paris: Lacote makes seven-string (floating low-D string) heptacordes for guitarist Coste and others.
1830			1830-40s, Vienna: The harp guitar concept explodes when top maker Staufer adds two or three floating basses to some of his guitars on a simple theorbo extension. The basic design is copied by his disciples and many others in London, France, Denmark and Italy. By now, numerous top guitarists/composers routinely use extended range guitars with floating strings (Coste, Decker-Schenk, Mertz).

1840			c.1840, Vienna: Staufer student F. Schenk creates amazing new single and double hollow arm harp guitar designs.

1850			1851, London: At the world expo, Spaniard Gallego displays his Guitarpa, a remarkable combination cello, guitar and zither (harp strings on the body).
1850			1856, Vienna: Russian impresario Makaroff holds a guitar competition, asking that instruments be "preferably ten-stringed." A Scherzer with four floating basses wins the top prize. The instrument is widely copied for decades in Vienna, Leipzig and St. Petersburg.

1860			c.1860, New York: Martin builds what is likely the first true harp guitar (a "ten-string guitar") in the United States.

1870			1876-1885, Spain: The famed Torres makes three eleven-string Spanish guitars (four bass strings off the neck).
1870			1879, Vienna: Schrammelmusik is born. With "bass guitars" now common, a Swosil instrument with seven open basses is chosen by the guitarist of the Schrammel trio (and final Quartet in 1884) to become a permanent fixture of this style of music. The music, and these harp guitars, see continuous performance even to the present day.

1880
1890			1890, Denver, CO: America's first harp guitar patent, by Arling Shaeffer, consists of two banks of treble harp strings on the body.
			1891, Chicago: The first true harp guitar ever to actually be called a "harp-guitar" is patented and built in Chicago by Hans J. Hansen.
			1893, Scotland: John Abelspies patents (in the U.S. and Germany) the second true harp guitar to be named as such. It consisted of eleven mid-range harp strings in a circle of fifths in lieu of basses.
			1890s, Chicago: Harp guitars begin their American reign, made by Bohmann, Lyon & Healy, the Larson brothers and many others.
			1896, 1898, Port Townsend, WA: Chris Knutsen patents his two hollow arm guitars, the first without additional strings, the second a true harp guitar. This instrument will quickly evolve into several styles, and most importantly, be licensed to W. J. Dyer.

1900			1902/1903, Kalamazoo, MI: The Gibson company introduces their dramatic six- and twelve-bass harp guitars.
			1906, Chicago/St. Paul: The final, and best Dyer Symphony harp guitar design is introduced. This is the only harp guitar that competed successfully with Gibson's.
			1900-1920: America: Harp guitar production explodes, especially in Chicago, but in dozens of other U.S. cities as well. Vaudeville and club performers take to the instrument, and it becomes popular within the Mandolin Orchestra craze.

1910			1910-1920, Italy: The harp guitar makes a huge comeback in Italy, initiated by re-visited single and double-arm designs by Mozzani, followed by Monzino, Gazzo and many others.

1920			1926-1933, Italy: Maccaferri introduces his own harp guitars modeled after the single-arm instruments of his teacher, Mozzani. He tours Europe, competing with Segovia as top concert draw, all while playing various harp guitars.
1920			1920s-1930s, Italy: Taraffo tours the world, playing a full 14-course harp guitar in an original virtuosic style that has never been duplicated.

1930			1930, America: The harp guitar's popularity is on its last leg. A Chicago Regal brand instrument is the last new instrument to be introduced.
1930			1939, America: The Dyer Symphony harp guitar makes one last-gasp appearance in their catalog, with new Style numbers. As none have ever been seen, it was likely never ordered after the mid-1920s. The Gibson harp guitar, offered by special order since the 1920s, is discontinued.

1940 1950			1940-1960: Harp guitars (still called "bass guitars") continue to be manufactured by individuals and musical instrument companies in Germany.

1960			1960s, America: A few curious folk musicians begin to discover old Gibson, Dyer and Knutsen harp guitars in second-hand shops.

1970			1970s, America: The first modern harp guitar players (Andy Wahlberg, 1972; John Doan, 1979) and builders (William Eaton, 1976) begin to emerge.
1970			1979, France: Roger Abel is granted the last known patent for a true harp guitar. Since the 1890 Shaeffer patent, a mere twenty patents that can be legitimately classified as true harp guitars (with some extremely outlandish!) were granted.

1980			1986, America: Windham Hill artist Michael Hedges discovers an old Dyer and introduces a new style of playing to the world.
1980			1986. Salem, OR: Jeff Sullivan and Jeff Elliott co-design and build a new instrument for harp guitarist John Doan that becomes a new standard in modern harp guitar design and performance.

1990			1990s, America: Led by virtuoso Stephen Bennett (who inherited his grandfather's Dyer harp guitar in 1988), new players begin to take up the instrument, and luthiers begin to restore old Dyers and build modern replicas.

2000			2000, the world: The luthier and player movement begins to explode with unlimited new harp guitar designs and music.
			2003, Virginia: Bennett hosts the first International Harp Guitar Gathering, which attracts players, builders and fans from a dozen states and two countries.
			2004: Gregg Miner creates Harpguitars.net, the official home of the Gathering and worldwide repository and central meeting place for all things harp guitar.
			2007, Carlsbad, CA: The Museum of Making Music, in collaboration with Gregg Miner and Rick Turner, puts on the first public exhibit dedicated to the harp guitar.

2010			The future…?