Group photo by Linda Morgan
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Captions by Gregg Miner |
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Trip
Report: The 2nd Annual Harp Guitar Gathering |
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Presentations |
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| Saturday, 9:00 sharp: Last years "young studs" Dan LaVoie and Andy McKee showed us the difference a year makes.... | Newcomer Tom Shinness plugged in and showed that an amplified and slightly enhanced vintage Gibson can sound truly gorgeous. | Several pros discussed their methods for beginning harp guitar. |
John Doan told stories about the filming of his new DVD project, "In Search of the Harp Guitar." Karla Fisher, the producer and editor, showed us a wonderful 2-minute preview "teaser." |
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| Bob Hartman and I did a Question/Answer on the Larson brothers instruments. | Trying to answer "What is a Harp Guitar?" | A poor student... | This year's Luthiers Panel: Bob Alexander, Pat Podpadec, Fred Carlson, Benoit Meulle-Stef, Steve Sedgwick and Mike Doolin. | Bob Alexander discusses his new creation. | Pat Podpadec chats about his first harp guitar, a custom instrument for Brian Henke. |
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Round Robin |
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| How many Beatles tunes can we play without stopping? | Bill Dutcher and Tom Shinness | Matt Thomas, a new "young gun" from the area. |
Bill paying rapt attention. |
Bob Hartman | Up close and personal with John. |
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New Instruments |
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| Steve Sedgwick (England) delivered two new instruments. Stephen Bennett is playing Kim Person's, Joe Morgan is holding his new cutaway. | Stephen played a couple tunes on Joe's instrument for the audience. | The proud builder with Kim's new prize. |
Steve tricked me into posing for a "Gregg Miner endorses Sedgwick Harp Guitars" photo - but I foiled his plan with the sleepy and stupefied expression which I wore most of the weekend. |
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| Norman LeDonne took delivery of Mike Doolin's second harp guitar - this one with super-trebles. | Muriel tries out Doolin #2. | Another proud builder. |
Andy Wahlberg tells us about his brand new harp guitar built by Florida classical guitar maker Eddie Vila. |
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| Certainly nothing was as unusual as Brian Henke's new "Dreamcaster." The builder, Pat Podpadec also attended. They were still working with stringing and tuning options for the treble bank. The 7-string baritone neck sounded incredible (all that extra wood and strings?). | Karla Fisher brought the new "student
model" harp guitar built by
Benoit Meulle-Stef. We all agreed that the name should be changed - while
simple and inexpensive, it is a great instrument! Still available from
John Doan.
Stephen gave a demonstration of both Ben's and a Sedgwick - simultaneously! |
Bob Alexander surprised everyone with his first harp guitar creation. |
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| I brought my new c.1920 Mozzani, as almost no one had seen one in the flesh (Ben had just got one himself, and compares to this one). |
It made the rounds the whole weekend. |
And a brief appearance in the concert. |
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Hotel Jams |
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| Stacy Hobbs brought four harp guitars, including this vintage German instrument. | As you can see, we freely switch harp guitars. | I didn't want to relinquish Andy Wahlberg's brand new hg by Eddie Vila. | Stephen gets free cello accompaniment yet again. | |
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Friends |
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| Joe & Linda Morgan, Stephen & Linda Bennett, Fred Carlson and Benoit Meulle-Stef. | Larry Berwald, Benoit, Myself, Rick Frieden, Muriel Anderson, Kip Martin. | Chuck Thompson, Brian Henke, Pat Podpadec, Nate Blaustein, Gary Dawson and Matt Thomas. | Gregg Miner & Steve Sedgwick - fellow harp guitar historians and fast friends. |
The trio of Spillers harp guitar owners - Larry, Dan and Andy. |
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| Andy McKee and Nate Blaustein | Larry Berwald and I made our debut as a harp guitar and Hawaiian guitar duo. | Oh no - "the hat" has multiplied! | Frank Doucette, Benoit, Fred and I spent a glorious relaxing day wandering around colonial Williamsburg on Monday. | |
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Photos by Larry Berwald, John Birchak, Nate Blaustein, Fred Carlson, Mike Doolin, Brad Hoyt, Gregg Miner, Linda Morgan, Steve Sedgwick, Benoit Meulle-Stef Additional photos and remembrances: |
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Don't miss HGG III! - in a new
location: Salem, Oregon
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All Site Contents Copyright © Gregg Miner, 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010. All Rights Reserved. Copyright and Fair Use of material and use of images: See Copyright and Fair Use policy. |
