…keeps me out of trouble, I guess.

But first, a quick note of concern and hope that all harp guitar and other friends in Japan, Hawaii, and the Pacific Coast are safe from earthquake (and subsequent tsunami) damage.   If anyone has any news of personal disaster for any of our extended community, please let us know!

Anyway, it’s not every day (or even every week) that I check on my backlog of HG material – only when nothing new and easily disseminated has come through the Inbox, or when other topics are stuck in Research Mode (plenty, I assure you).

And I haven’t started a system yet (for instance, Alphabetical?) for wading through the archives – I’ll just stumble onto something I forgot about, usually when looking for something else that I can’t locate!

For instance, I was hunting for something in a “Simmons” folder (that would be Michael, of the Fretboard Journal), and found these photos from Robert Armstrong’s vaults (Michael had apparently requested scans for us, and kindly forwarded them along).  Robert (of Mickey Rat fame and painted ukuleles and so many other wonderful and colorful things) is someone I have yet to meet, though he’s been a friend to the site and made occasional contributions of material to Harpguitars.net over the years.

Here are some additional random finds of his from a couple of years ago:

A typically colorful Austrian band with wappen-shaped harp guitar and some zithers

A nice candid shot of an all-Gibson group.  Surely they are father and sons – the resemblances!
The scroll bridge U is the later c.1908 10-bass model.

I could have sworn I’d seen this unusual double-neck with reverse-Staufer mirrored headstocks, and when I found it in the Galleries (2a), it sent me to Iconography and a postcard of the very same gentleman! Any thoughts as to the country (instrument or players?)

And finally, here’s a gorgeous photo of a lovely wappen-HG player.

Thanks, Robert and Michael!  What else ya’ got for us?