Official Luthiers Forum!

Oh, good.
We have Tony interested, .
I built 2 of these thingme's with flat tops and backs.
Sinking x at the soundhole, before the tops were glued on.
I didn't care.
RH stuff.
They sound really good, but the bridges are rotating too!
Learning....
So, I decided to glue up at 40 percent or so, thanks forum!,
and made a sanding sled, and go bar deck with a 25' radius,
used for the back and top.
Not a radius dish, but an arc, as I feel this is better for a Weiss.
Still doing finishing on 3 with this radius,
so, I don't know what will happen, but,
I think (hope) it will help.
I also beefed up the upper bout back brace,
because I noticed there was a slight depression there because of the "break" bending at the back.

Both of the ones I've played (including my own) have been tuned down pretty low. Mine has a pretty serious bulge on the top behind the bridge when I tune it up, which I'll need to figure out how to address. I've played a few Konas and Weissenborns, but the ones I played were in good condition, so I can't really compare the instruments. Unfortunately.

Hi john,
Thanks for your reply. I would love to see a picture of your Knutsen If you can find the time.

Thanks,
Ron

Excuse my playing skills, but here's what it sounds like. I think I was tuned to open G tuned down three steps (B E B E G# B).

And here's what it looks like. Both my Knutsens. It will be a long time before the harp guitar is ready for playing.



Just the Hawaiian. Check out the massive wooden nut, and the dot at the 14th fret instead of the 15th.

Hi John,
Wow, the Knutsen sounds good! Thanks for posting the photos of the details. Very interesting. Yeah, the saddle is massive. I love the asymmetrical bridge design. If you don't mind, what are the dimensions of the bridge (length and width at both ends)? As I mentioned earlier, I would like to use a Knutsen bridge design on my guitar. I'm working on one now, but I'm uncertain about the dimensions so I just copied the shape.

Is that a wooden nut? That fingerboard is amazing, love the marquetry and how it extends over the soundhole. I always wondered If that affected the sound in anyway.

It seems by your comment that the Harp guitar needs restoring.
Do you plan on restoring It yourself? It appears to be in pretty good condition. Is it made of koa ?

I always loved those little whimsical pickguards on knutsens. Your knutsen screams fun!
You are fortunate to own two rare Knutsen guitars. Thanks for taking the time to post the pics and sound files.

Ron

Nice, John!
Your playin' ain't bad either!

Ron,

Here's a link to a bunch of photos of the bridge along with a 6" ruler. Easier to show the measurements than to just write them down. Click on the picture you're looking at to get a bigger view - you can also view the pictures in their original size by clicking on the "O" at the top of the picture viewer. The nut is a big hunk of wood.

http://smu.gs/jj537F

The harp guitar is all koa - one piece top and one piece back, 16" wide. It dates from somewhere between 1912 and 1914 - koa must have been fairly plentiful back then. It was built before the Pan Pacific International Exhibition in SF in 1915. The main neck is loose; I could probably pull it off. There are some huge cracks as well. I plan on doing all the repairs myself, as soon as I get up the nerve. Here's a link to photos of the harp guitar.

http://smu.gs/js73TI

Before you ask, I have no idea whether the bridge truss is original, or what purpose it is supposed to serve. Maybe I'd know if I can get it strung up.

Hi John,
Thank you for all the pictures. It had to take some time to take all the pics and upload them.
I hope It wasn't too much trouble. I'm going to use metal wire from a coat hanger for the saddle so I'm not to concerned about the bone saddle being original or not.

You have your work cut out for you with the Harp Guitar, but once you start the repairs It should be fun. I agree, koa must have been plentiful back then by judging the size of the top and back plates.

Again, thanks for your time and effort.

Ron

No problem - it took all of 5-10 minutes. The hardest part was figuring out how to hold the ruler while I was taking the pictures.

I wondered how you held the ruler in place and took the photos. I hope things go well restoring the Harp guitar.

Ron

That thread is 17 pages long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm doing a 25' cylindrical top and back.
I'll let you know in a few years how they hold up.

Great blog and recording, John!

That means a lot coming from you, Tony.

There are some fantastic pictures of a of an early Weissenborn (1914-1915) that George Noe posted over in the Steel Guitar Forum:

Steel Guitar Forum thread with George Noe's pictures.

A mighty good look at the bracing:



He also posted some info re: dating Weissenborns in this thread.

In the first thread I mentioned, George mentions the "Knutsen bridge." Ron, if you haven't seen the picture on this page of Gregg Miner's Knutsen Archives, you can see the evolution of the Knutsen and Weissenborn bridges.

Hi john,
Thanks for the heads up on the Weissenborn thread at the SGF. Great Stuff!!!