For Bob Hartman (who’s been waiting thirty-five years for this moment) and me, this is a bit of “Holy Grail ephemera.” I expect the hundred-plus Dyer owners will appreciate it as well, along with the general vintage guitar world.  I just published a full public article on it here, while the catalog itself is archived exclusively in the Members Section of Harpguitars.net − as it is you Foundation donors who made it possible to procure this ultra-rare and important document (so pat yourselves on the back!).

There was, of course, more than one harp guitar brochure/catalog that the W. J. Dyer & Bro. (known more simply as “Dyer”) company produced during their not-quite-two decades of busy production.  Somewhere between three and six unique catalogs featuring just the Dyer harp guitars (and later, harp mandolin family) were printed, in addition to the Dyer company’s occasional full line catalogs (which probably also included the harp guitars – after all, their 1939 version still did!).

So which one was first to finally turn up?  A pretty early one, it seems.  Alas, I was hoping to see my Style 8 in there, with maybe even an actual date…but no, this document evidently predates my instrument.

Well then, if early, it’s gotta be pretty enlightening, right?…after all, this was the “dark ages” of the Dyer harp guitar’s history.  Well, apparently not quite early enough for that.  Bottom line: we’ve got to find the rest of those catalogs!

Meanwhile, this one contains plenty of interesting information, and is above all a very cool bit of bound paper…check it out!

W. J. Dyer & Bro. Symphony Harp Guitars circa 1906 Catalog