I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of players of “harp guitars with super-trebles” lately – along with the occasional new instrument – in new videos via Facebook and YouTube, so thought I’d do a quick update for those who might otherwise miss some of this news.  And thanks to all who alert me to their new projects.

This may also be a good time to point new super-treble fans to a 40-page scholarly (but eminently readable) article I wrote two years ago on “the entire past, present and future of super-trebles” (and you know I’m not kidding).  It’s just missing the very latest, most of which you’ll see below.  It’s called “Super-Trebles: To Infinity and Beyond,” and is available to all active Harpguitars.net members, accessed here.

I’m happy to admit that most of these talented players below are good friends and colleagues – so it’s nice to see their accomplishments, along with discovering a new face or two.

The most recent “super-treble-appearance” is of Tony Barnard in the U.K. – the chap (chappie?) who wrote the wonderful HGG13 report for us last year.  He’s currently finishing up his first harp guitar album on his new 21-string Sedgwick, but did some amazing impromptu demos for Emerald Guitars on various instruments lately, including a fan fret Emerald with 6 supers:

barnard

He first played a great arrangement arrangement of “When You Wish Upon a Star.”  I don’t listen to solo jazz guitar as much as I used to, so love it when a pro like Tony segues into something like “Mist and Stone,” a beautiful original.

conklin

Coincidentally, my friend Joe Conklin also has a video on both an Emerald and his own Sedgwick (above).  These are his own “iPhone practice videos” put up strictly for his family and friends.  I think you’ll agree his music deserves to be heard!

hoelle3

Tom Hoelle (above) built his own Sullivan-Elliott harp guitar.  Listen to how incredible it sounds on his latest video, an original tune.

pickardAnother super-treble harp guitar I was impressed with was the nylon HG built by Stuart Mewburn (finished by Alan Miller) for Jon Pickard (above), a player I was impressed with when I finally met him at the France harp guitar festival.  He recently produced his first (lovely) video of his very first (lovely) harp guitar piece.

ek

Through Facebook, Jon alerted us to another interesting super-treble instrument and player: Daniel Ek, seen above in a duo performance of wonderful Swedish music with Erik Igelstrom.  It took me awhile to see Daniel finally playing his supers in this medley of tunes.  At 7:08, you’ll see Dan hammering a bass line while doing some sort of accompaniment on the trebles.  I’m anxious to hear this recorded to CD!

ferreyra

Highlighting another new builder (“construida por el luthier Tucumano Fabián Lizarraga”), this super-treble harp guitar is played by multi-instrumentalist Alejandro Ferreyra of Argentina, in his newest harp guitar video.

deghi

One of my favorite recent super-treble creations was the Arpa Viola Caipira inspired by Brad Hoyt’s ingenious Sedgwick creation but designed to look like more like a baby Sullivan-Elliott!  The fellow who commissioned it from Anelio Ferroni of Brazil is Fernando Deghi, who sent me a link to his brand new video of a beautiful original piece.  Check out his unusual right hand technique.

cockburn

Above is a Facebook post from the McMichael Gallery giving us the briefest of teases of Bruce Cockburn checking out Linda Manzer’s latest sympathetic/harp guitarish creation.

laflamme

And of course, super-treble stalwarts Claude Laflamme above and Muriel Anderson below continue to post new videos on their own or borrowed harp guitars across the globe…

anderson

Personally, while I enjoy the occasional video, I simply don’t have time to sit in front of my computer watching, so much prefer CDs which I can immerse myself in over and over in my car and elsewhere (besides preferring the fidelity and “finished project” artistry of it).

To that end, I’m quite looking forward to Tony’s upcoming CD, a new solo project from Brad Hoyt (AVC & piano), and even (knock wood) my own, out next year (with some different uses of assorted Knutsen super-trebles…).

Who’s next…?!