Harwood Harp Guitar


These remarkable pages are from an original Jenkins catalog in the possession of Bob Jenkins, whose father sold the nearly century-old company in 1972 (subsequently to be liquidated). The catalog dates from c.1895 or possibly a bit later. The first harp guitar is identical to the surviving specimen directly above. The second instrument is a standard parlor guitar with "sub-bass attachment." Again, directly above it is a sole surviving specimen, which was found years ago, but not believed to have been an original, unmodified instrument until just now (January, 2012) when Bob shared the catalog with us! Prior to this, we also thought it was Gibson who first coined the term "sub-bass" for the floating basses in 1903.

Jenkins ad, 1902 - we now know that this "new 14-string" instrument came well after the 18-course "New York" Harwoods.

Update, Nov, 2011: This is actually information I received in 2002 from a Harwood owner named David LeBlanc, who had obtained it from the Kansas City Public Library (which has many old Jenkins articles). From an article titled "In All Countries: Mandolins and Guitars Made by J.W. Jenkins' Sons Are Used: Wonders of the Make: Music in Distant Lands From Kansas City Instruments" appearing in the December 13, 1898 Kansas City Journal:

"Twenty-five men are constantly employed, who annually use up 50,000 feet of lumber which goes into the frames of mandolins and guitars. This consists of rosewood from South America, mahogany from Central America, spruce from Norway and Sweden and oak and maple from New York. The capacity of the factory is 500 mandolins and guitars a month, while the annual output is 5,000 instruments, which are sent to all parts of the world. J. W. Jenkins' Sons' mandolins and guitars, made in Kansas City, are played in Mexico, South and Central America, the Sandwich Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. They can be found in almost every town and city in the Union and the "Harwood" guitar has attained a celebrity among musicians that places it at the head of that class of musical instruments."

Lester Payne

This fellow keeps popping up in conjunction with Harwood instruments...it seems he put together club after club, whose members played mostly Harwoods - obviously supplied by the dealer/endorser Payne. His story peaks with the meeting of Chris Knutsen, when he added almost a dozen Knutsen harp guitars into the mix!

Michael Holmes of Mugwumps Online posted this bit of Harwood trivia on his Q & A page: "Harwood was a brand name used by J. W. Jenkins Company, a Kansas City, MO musical instrument dealer and wholesaler. They introduced the Harwood brand in 1885, which they may not have actually manufactured. Circa 1895 they established a factory and produced guitars and mandolins under the Clifford and the Washington brand names. Some guitars marked "Harwood, New York" have been seen. It is not known if these are also by Jenkins".

So - "Harwood" was a brand, not a maker as I had originally thought. Further corroboration: soon after I learned of this, I received the article on the left from friend Kelly Williams. It's from The Music Trades, dated July 26, 1902. It shows what may be the first Harwood harp guitar, though the name is not mentioned. Clues are the last fret marker (on both necks, in this case) - a white celluloid rectangle engraved "HARWOOD" (as seen above in several instruments), the carved bridge that matches some of the known specimens, the joined headstock, and the position of the necks on the body. Lastly, it's advertised as the new guitar from J. W. Jenkins' Sons Music Co (a continuation of the Jenkins Company referred to above?). Interestingly, they don't call it a harp guitar or similar - just a 14-string guitar. The eight bass strings utilize geared tuners, and the two necks are centered on the body. I've yet to see this model in the flesh.

Nov, 2011: I have left the above opening paragraphs that were written in 2004 at my site's inception. And now the Harwood "New York" mystery is solved! The answers appear in the Fall, 2011 Fretboard Journal. I'll give the authors time to let their work sink in and get disseminated, and post another update down the road. Meanwhile, their article (and mention of my site) prompted me to re-vamp my own Harwood page - turns out, we had independently discovered most of the same clues and information over the last couple years!

Update, Nov, 2011: Until recently, I had no reason to doubt "circa 1900" for the earliest Harwood harp guitars (the earliest dated photo was from 1898)...until I found the treasure at the top of the page. It's a full page photo from the Jan/Feb 1895 issue of The Cadenza magazine (with grateful thanks to the late Ron Purcell of the IGRA at CSUN, who allowed me access to their library). Yes, these are all Harwood guitars, harp guitars, plus a mandolin or two. The giveaway is the white celluloid block (engraved "Harwood") between the last frets. And there is the classic Harwood harp guitar on the right, with 12 chromatic sub-basses, a single soundhole, and that distinctively-shaped "slab" headstock. But what is that on the left?! It's definitely a Harwood - but at first glance, I mistook it for the infamous c.1900 Wulschner "Regal" harp guitar. Those rare instruments have the same laughably short sub-bass strings, attached to the slab of wood in the corner of the neck and left bout. I imagine that was an effort to keep the pesky basses away from the player's thumb and/or line of sight. Well, now it looks like the designers at Regal copied this from Jenkin's Harwood! (see my earlier blogs on this here and here)

At this point we still have no idea who (individual or factory) built Harwoods labelled "New York" (or precisely when). Frank Ford, who has examined some of the parlor guitars, believes that they are nearly comparable to Martin quality (but not made by Martin). There are many mandolins known - bowlbacks mostly, but also flatbacks and even a mandolinetto - and many 6-string guitars, most parlor-size, but a few oversize. Appointments range from plain to full presentation grade.

Update, Nov, 2011: Ah, but now we know who built the Harwood instruments for Jenkins prior to January, 1895...though not in New York. It was John C. Haynes & Co. of Boston, who entered into a contract with J. W. Jenkins' Sons (of Kansas City) in January, 1889 to manufacture the Harwood brand. That means that all the instruments in the top group photo were likely built by the Haynes company, all before 1895.

This tidbit came courtesy of the unveiling some 2 years ago of "The Music Trade Review" online repository. This is just what I found through their search engine - I'm sure there's much more to be discovered by reading through each issue (please have it!).

This other Harwood notice appeared in December, 1903, mentioning the new illustrated Jenkins brochure, including "interior views of the Jenkins factory, which is devoted to the manufacture of Harwood guitars and mandolins."

Above are all the Harwood harp guitar specimens I am now aware of (the number has gradually grown). All extant specimens appear to be made with stunning Brazilian rosewood back and sides. Amazingly, my specimen has a perfectly flat top, strung with 18 steel strings, yet is only ladder braced. Perhaps this is helped by the fact that amongst the evenly-spaced braces (~ every 2-1/2"), one is situated directly above the bridge, and the bridge plate itself appears to be a solid thin piece of ? that completely fills the space between the braces and from side to side. Left to right, 1st, then 2nd row:

The "Regal"-style "slab-neck harp string attachment" model, with 6 short sub-basses, built before 1895.
8 sub-basses, 1 soundhole and symmetrical necks, geared tuners, 2 neck logos, from 1902 Jenkins ad.
12 sub-basses, one soundhole and main neck centered over soundhole, bass neck terminates at body, friction tuners, no neck logo, from American Lutherie Journal #29, Spring 1992. I recently learned that William Cumpiano was (and still is) the owner of it (in need of major restoration, he says).
(Seemingly) identical to the previous, from the pre-1895 photo.
12 sub-basses, same headstock and tuners, but two symmetrical soundholes, the main neck centered over the right hole, 2 neck logos, from a dated historical photo (Aeolian Mandolin Orchestra, Guthrie OK, 1898).
(Seemingly) identical specimen to the previous, except that it has 9 strings on the neck. The top 3 strings are doubled; though the tuners all match, the 3 extra strings seem a later add on (full details here).
My specimen, identical to the previous, but only 1 neck logo. 19" wide (presumably the others are also). On these last 3 specimens, note that the main neck is centered over its soundhole, but the other is not (i.e.: the soundholes are symmetrical on the body, but the necks are not quite centered on the body. However, the strings almost are). Note that neck logos do not always occur on the same fret. Other than the horrifically annoying 18 friction tuners, this is a great instrument.
An unusual specimen with the same headstock but only 9 sub-basses, and oval soundholes.
An original c.1895 "Artists' Grand with Sub-Bass Attachment.
A parlor size (14-1/2" lower bout) specimen, 6-sub-basses, geared tuners.
An instrument that clearly has a very different headstock, and appears to have a slightly narrower upper bout and body shape, yet seems to have the celluloid neck logo. Of course, other makers could have inserted a similar plaque there as well.

The shot above shows the gorgeous grain and color of the Brazilian rosewood sides of my "double-barrel".

Inlaid bone or celluloid engraved fret marker