| home | order | prices | models | features | options | gallery | reviews | for sale |
The 32 string sympathetic harp guitar
is a melding of three instruments, a guitar, a harp and a sitar.
It is based on the designs of several harp guitarists and luthiers
whose work I am deeply indebted to. The harp guitar is influenced
heavily by the John
Doan harp guitar which
was designed and built by Jeffery Elliot and John Sullivan. The
sympathetic sitar concept was inspired by Fred Carlson who has done pioneering work with
his sympitars.
The top is Sitka spruce, back and sides are black walnut. The neck is made from mahogany with an ebony fingerboard and bridge. The body is bound in ebony and finished in lacquer.
There are a total of 32 strings, 8 sub-bass, 6 melody, 8 super trebles and 12 sympathetic strings which run inside the neck. They can be tuned any way the player wants and sound great when tuned to open tunings.
If you are interested in commisioning a custom harp
guitar please let me know and we can discuss tunings, woods, inlay.
etc. Every one is unique and built to custom order. If you would
like more information feel free to contact me at Jim@WorlandGuitars.com
The
2 pegheads. Sub bass strings are wound nylon tuned low to hi F
G A B C D. The main melody strings are phosphor bronze and are
tuned to D A D G A D. The sympathetic strings are tuned with the
12 white tuners.
From
the back you can see the Peghed tuners used for some of the bass
strings. A small adjustable bracket joins the 2 pegheads.
8 super trebles are
anchored to the upper bout and pass over small bone nuts. They
are tuned d e f g a b c d.
From
the back you can see the ball ends of the super treble strings.
The
8 super trebles are tuned with 5th string banjo tuners mounted
on the lower bout. This provides better access to the upper frets
on the neck and helps to balance the weight.
Looking
inside the back access port you can see the sympathetic strings
as they pass over a nut then over a jawari bridge to produce a
sitar like buzzing sound.
Click
on the photo to see how I built this harp guitar.
Click here to view a brief youtube video of me playing this harp guitar.
| home | order | prices | models | features | options | gallery | reviews | for sale |