Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all,


Recently finished my first attempt at a harp guitar build. A couple issues I did have. The neck is adjustable with a elevated fingerboard and because of this the bass strings aren't on the same plane as the guitar neck strings. Don't know if this will be an issue as I don't play. Finsh is shellac and I won't even go there. All and all I'm happy with how it turned out, and enjoyed this build. some specs; B&S and neck blac limba Top C. spruce.

I don't know what to say.
I's very, ehm, impressive? (read looks massive!)
Nice workmanship, how long did it take to build?
Do you know anyone who plays harp guitar? I do really like to hear them played, but must admit I am not up for building them myself.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thats a pretty sweet looking job form the pictures .. the mitred binding at the cutaway and all .. excellent looking transition to the harp headstock, and some nice woods .. its very well done. Having just built my first, I know they arent easy to do ... You should be very proud of the effort !!!!

As for the raised neck, I am not sure why you felt you needed to do this ... I cant say if this would cause difficulty in playing or not without trying it. For sure you can get used to it.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

First, let me admit that what I know about harp guitars wouldn't fill a thimble. Having admitted that, I will also say this instrument looks like a voluptuous beauty for sure. I have a hunch the bass strings not being in the same plane as the guitar strings will be an issue for many players, but perhaps not. Overall, I think your instrument is just plain beautiful.

Cheers,
Patrick

Cool. I really want to play one of them one of these days.

Nice ! I like the soundhole placement.

I think you like the neck placement .. the soundhole is in its normal centred position !!!!

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Very Nice!! With all these harp posts, we may get our own sub-forum one day.

Mike

Why - do we upset people here on the main Forum that much

Brent - Lovely instrument. Black Limba's a great choice for b/s wood as I suspect you geat very good string clarity and articulation across the range. Which spruce is C spruce? Is it one of the European ones - p.occidentalis (Caucasian) or p. abies (I'm guessing it could be that marketing brand "Carpathian" maybe)? As for the sub-bass strings being lower, I had that on the last one I made and it doesn't bother me too much as a player- if it did I'd use suporting posts on the peg head to raise them. You could always use longer posts on the peg-head to raise them a little - Mike Doolin makes his own I know.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

No, not at all. But I would not be suprised at all if some "purists" in here take some offense to distorting the beautiful shape of the OM (or Jumbo, etc)

Thanks all for the kind words. Dave yes Carpathian Spruce that started as a orpaned cello top from Old world tonewoods. I did turn string posts for the peg head and the pins for the base strings. dont think I could raise the posts much. I think the only fix for the string height would to make a new necck and drop it lower to the sound board.

Thanks Brent