Knutsen Harp Guitar    

This instrument is pictured on p. 68-69 in the Noe/Most book. The images below are from the original seller, The Red Fiddle.
Note the new shape of the bass headstock.
You can see that it had seven tuners on the neck, with a hole for an eighth. The image on the right, from the book, shows the new separate eighth tuner that Dan Most re-installed. The strings are configured so that the "g" and "e" strings are doubled! As there is another instrument (HGS25) with the g string doubled, and because the eighth single tuner sticking out of the top seems too wacky even for Knutsen, I suspect that he or someone else added this later. But with Knutsen, it's certainly possible that it's original!
The binding and ornaments are quite fancy on this one.
Based on the proportions, it appears to be a 3/4 size instrument (~19" scale length).
Additional photos and information can be found in From Harp Guitars to the New Hawaiian Family by Noe & Most.

hgs5headfront.jpg (27863 bytes) hgs5alt.jpg (23696 bytes) hgs5back.jpg (16783 bytes) hgs5headback.jpg (15654 bytes) hgs5noe.jpg (39249 bytes)

(left 4 images copyright Dick Fiscus, right image Tom Noe)

Knutsen Archives Inventory Number

HGS5

                 Category

Seattle Harp Guitars

                 Body Style

"Lower Bass Point"

                 Current or last known owner

Dan Most Estate

              Year (approx)

1911

                 Label

"C. Knutsen, Sole Patentee of the 11-string harp guitar"

                 Label Code SE2

                 Courses / Strings

18 course: 8 strings on neck (G&E doubled), 5 bass, 7 treble

               Frets

straight

                 Scale length unknown
                 Neck Joint no heel

Woods

Top

spruce

Back & Sides

mahogany

Neck

curly maple w/rosewood strips

Fingerboard

dyed pearwood

Bridge

unknown

Headstock veneer dyed pearwood

Binding, trim

Top

multi-colored wood

Back

ivoroid

Fingerboard

none

Headstock(s)

none

Soundhole 3 multi-colored rings

                 Inlay

fancy pearl fret markers

                 Pickguard

none

                 Comments

(Noe/Most, p.68-69)

 

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