Yes, Schrammel guitars – our Viennese “Dyer cousins” – the kontragitares – continue to pick up steam. Not only from the plethora of more traditional players (we try to capture them all in this section of the Players page), who play authentic Schrammelmusik, but from the ever-growing European contingent that has easy access to these underrated harp guitars (underrated in the States, that is).
Players like Emmerich Haimer, above (who is so hip, he only appears in black and white)…
Just the other day, I got a very promising demo DVD from Joachim Csaikl of Austria, who has this very cool eleven-bass kontra. I remembered him from one not-super-impressive YouTube video, and, boy, has he come a long way! He’s got his own slapping>bass note>drumming>chord repeating groove nailed, with some nice plucked and tapped melody as well (note to demo senders: Melody: good, Endless Tapping: not so much). I think he’ll be one to watch.
And Frank found Harald Koll, playing a Dutch Christmas tune on YouTube. On his site, he’s now playing the Bach prelude, in a “headstock video” a la Jason Carter. He told Frank he’s working on a CD with his German(?) instrument, which I’m happy to see he’s calling a “harp guitar” (my worldwide preferred modern term, as if you didn’t know).
< If you want to watch the video with the guitar in this position, you’ll have to turn your monitor on its side (hey, I did!).
So who else is out there?!
Me me me! I love them, have made few, restored a dozen and kept about 5 of them for me 🙂