Knutsen Harp Ukulele
This is a nice find!
The earliest known harp uke so far - it has a Harp
Guitar Factory label which clearly dates the instrument to 1913 or 1914. It has
"Patent aplod (sic)" handwritten on the label, most likely a precursor
to the printed "Patent Applied For" labels (see HU11 & HU12).
These latter then gave way to the "New Hawaiian Family" labels with
the falsely-advertised "C. Knutsen's Patents" included (at least, no
one's been able to track down these "patents").
Note the fancy multi-colored rope binding on the body and neck.
It has a slightly different shape, with the bass arm further away from the neck.
The
neck and bridge are quite offset - Researcher Ben Elder, who inspected the instrument,
thought this was from a bad repair job. Assuming this true, I adjusted the neck
and bridge in Photoshop to what may have been closer to the original
configuration (note that the neck still does not connect to the arm - unlike all
later harp ukuleles).
More intriguing is the single bass string on the harp arm! The bridge seems to
indicate that this was added later (and I believe this is most likely the case) -
BUT ... the tuning peg in the arm certainly makes
sense for a Knutsen design - as would just slapping on a standard uke bridge
(and remember, this is an early, possibly experimental, instrument). We may never know for
certain!
Click on a picture to
enlarge
(images
copyright Ben Elder & Gregg
Miner)
Knutsen Archives Inventory Number |
HU15 |
|
Category |
Harp Ukuleles |
|
Body Style |
"Early" |
|
Current or last known owner |
unknown |
|
Year (approx) |
1913-1914 |
|
Label |
Harp Guitar Factory, with hand written "Patent aplod" |
|
Label Code | SE7 (partial, with additional handwriting) | |
Courses / Strings |
5 courses: 4 strings on neck, 1 bass |
|
Scale length |
unknown |
|
Woods |
Top |
koa |
Back & Sides |
koa |
|
Neck |
? |
|
Fingerboard |
? |
|
Bridge |
? |
|
Headstock veneer |
unknown |
|
Binding, trim |
Top |
multi-colored rope |
Back |
none |
|
Fingerboard |
multi-colored rope |
|
Headstock(s) |
none |
|
Soundhole |
rope, wood |
|
Inlay |
none |
|
Pickguard |
none |
|
Comments |
|
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