Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello all,

I finally got the pro pix back from the shoot of the Belair harp guitar, so named for tis 57 Chevy'ish tail fin, which I turned into an armrest.

The guitar is made from flamed makore, with a lovely lutz top from Shane. Rosettes are spalted maple, with blk/green/blk prufling lines. The binding, armrest veneer, bridge, and headplates are all african blackwood. Fingerboard is ebony. The scales for the multiscale fingerboard, where the reference is the nut which is straight, are 25 and 25.5 inches. The nut is 1 3/4, bridge spacing on the guitar is 2 3/16 (approx 56mm). The harp sub strings are spaced 9mm apart at the saddle. Harp ubs are tuned alal Stephen Bennett std tuning, GABCDG low to high. Gauges are 45, 54, 60, 62, 66, 72, John Pierce, from harpguitars.net .

Internally, the bracing is modified Dyer, with a few of my additions/deletions (for instance, the X goes all the way to the linings, and the bridge plate is smaller, and is not tucked under the X like a Dyer has in the GAL plans). I also added two 1/4 inch CF tubes from the neck block to the sides as buttresses.

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

Stunning my friend!

So is this one for sale? Or are you keeping it for yourself?

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Wow Tony! It is beautiful. I am jealous. I love the finrest.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Wow! Beautiful work Tony. Those spalted rosettes look great.

It turned out fabulous Tony!

Congrats

Shane

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Canada

oh man, thats so great. love it.

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sweat the small stuff.

Stunning modern take on a classic!

Outstanding! The work around the neck is most impressive. What sort of neck joint do you do?

Cheers,
Danny

Ditto to all the above. Gorgeous Tony!

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Dave
Milton, ON

Congrats Tony! She is a beautiful thing with amazing lines. She sounds wonderful too! So when is Stephen going to take her for a test drive? Who doesn't want to drive a '57 Belair!
Cheers
Rick

That is beautiful! I'd be sooo intimidated, with all those strings.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Impressive! I too would be interested in what type neck joint you used on this instrument. I've seen those that have used a Spanish heel on steel string harp guitars. Again, WOW! Clinton

Tony ... that is just simply STUNNING ... the lines, the design, the execution ... what a masterpiece!!! I'd love to see a full front shot too if you've got one?

David Wren http://www.wrenguitarworks.com

Super nice Tony!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Wow. Amazing. There are so many things about that guitar that I wouldn't have a clue how to do. Very inspirational. I second the request for a full front photo.

Thanks for sharing.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

First of all a huge thanks to all who posted the kind words. This was a true labour of love, as I had wanted to have one ever since I first saw Stephen Bennett play his Dyer copy a few years back, and to be able to play some of his great tunes. He has some new stuff out on Firefox, with video and tab for learning a bunch of his harp stuff. I am slowly working on a couple of them, it takes some getting used to, trying to find the right sub as you are playing fingerstyle on the guitar neck - I feel like a rank amateur player again, not that I am that good anyway, but I try hard

It took me about two years to build this, although other guitars got in the way, but all the while I was thinking about how to do certain parts. The neck is a butt joint, two bolt affair. It took most of a day to fit properly, as the compound curve is pretty extreme - I kept having to pair away from the bass side heel area until the treble side began to fit tight, then lots of flossing to get it tight and centred. The harp headstock is a two piece unit glued up, and then routed thinner where the tuners mount. After seeing Michael Greenfield's harp in Montreal last year, I will be modding this area to accept a bolt on headstock into an internal block, but it will still look pretty much like this one does. Just easier IMO. I used my 18 and 28 bowls to shape the rim both front and back, with some flat boarding out to the harp headstock area - it blended nicely, it was one of those well lets try and see what happens things, and it worked. In my mind I wasnt so sure.

Josh .. its available, although I am playing it now - I will have it at the Moonshine show !!! My personal keeper will be more like a Dyer style 8 in apptointments, they have way more shell, and made from some crazy pomele/flamed/figured sapele I have. Top will likely be some bearclaw sitka.

I though I had the full frontal in there, but I guess not !!! As well, a bridge closeup - had to make a special three bolt clamp for this one, thru three of the pin holes.

*** Finrest .. now why didnt I think of that - very cool Burton !!!

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

Beauty! I can't wait to build myself one of these things.

That neck joint does indeed look like a beastch.

The bridge is gorgeous. Love the continuous row of pins. That highest sub-bass looks like it's falling off the edge of the saddle though... or is it just barely hanging on?

Nice bass peg head shape as well. Much better than those funky Mickey Mouse ears on most of them.

And you must post some sound clips once you get those tunes practiced up to a decent level

What strings are you using?

Hi Dennis, thanks.

Yes the highest sub is close to the saddle edge, it has about 2 or 3mm there .. that end of the sub string saddle has very little round over, so it wont fall off. Again, a design decision,. I wanted the subs to be as close to the reg guitar strings as I could get, to minimize the thumb stretch while playing. I will likely widen the sub spacing to 9.5 mm on future harps, a slight difference from the 9mm now, a little more between as I do reach and hit an adjacent one while trying to play a tune ... but that could just be me though !!! But most Dyer copies have wider spacing, this was just my idea.

Harp sub basses - from www.harpguitars.net, Gregg Miner's harp site - I am using the Stephen Bennett tuning John Pierce set (now there's a surprise), in light/med gauge - they are gauged 45, 54, 60,62,66,72, and tuned GABCDG low to high. You have to drill out the lowest tuner to fit anything 70 an over, but the others are fine. Its quite amazing to hear that 45 gauge tuned to G, in comparison to a G on the guitar lkow E fretted 3rd fret .. the harp is clearer, and rings FOREVER .... same with the harp D, as compared to the guitar in drop D tuning.

As for me playing and recording .. HAH ... that might take a while ... Might have to get my pal Carter Lancaster to do that for me, he lives about 30 minutes away - check him out on Youtube .. he started playing harp a few years ago and is remarkably talented at it ... Stephen likely would as well, but he lives quite a ways from here !!!

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

WOW.

Just, wow!

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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.

yowza! ... O.o ... sweet tony, congrats:)

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If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason. - Jack Handey

Off the charts, Tony. I love the simple bridge solution.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I have come to expect great work from you, Tony. But you are raising the bar. Outstanding!

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Wow!

Cool armrest and bridge too. Work of art.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Tony, you have managed to work some beautiful angles into a well-designed whole. Great work! How do you like the multiscale fretboard with a straight nut and how does it affect the size and shape of the bridge plate and bracing? Any chance of seeing the bracing of the top? For me an angled nut on a multiscale fretboard might help with the bracing layout and design but makes it awkward for barre chords in the first position.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com