Similarly, Orville must have also seen the advantage of geared neck tuners over his original friction tuners, and would soon adopt that change himself.  In fact, an earlier Orville-construction Style R, serial #2770 has geared tuners (originality not confirmed, but looks correct).

Another theoretical “Orville-built” harp guitar feature is the “notched bridge.”  Ben noticed this unusual carved motif immediately when #2502 was discovered in 2007.  A couple of other very early harp guitars have it, including the World’s Fair HG.  It’s interesting to note that the World’s Fair harp guitar has no metal support strap for the bridge, which nearly all other early models have.  Perhaps this was thought to be more attractive for presentation?  After all, it was originally intended as a display instrument rather than a professional players’ instrument.

Note the nine sub-basses on #2783.  Though never seen or referred to in literature, this has been found by Ben and myself to have been the most common – and possibly “standard” – configuration for the large, long-scale Style U’s in the early years of c.1904-1906.  Its specific tuning remains unknown but may have been D# chromatically down G, as suspected by Ben (the same as the German 9-bass chromatic kontragitarre tuning).

Back to the Fair

Back to the photo...and there it is! 

Note that the plain Style U harp guitar on the back wall has nine subs also.

Peggy had found it in Bellson’s book, where their testimonial is included, dated “April 10, 1903, Spokane, Wash” (at left, with text highlighted).  Even better, Peggy found several newspaper accounts of the Monarchs ordering or receiving their new Gibsons!  These poorly written accounts (one even states that they were a “cello-harp” and “manduria” custom made in Madrid!) are not very clear.  Peggy interprets the various clues as suggesting that the duo ordered the instruments directly from Orville in the early fall of 1902, which he then completed in February.  I favor a scenario where the duo ordered them in February, 1903 – perhaps after obtaining the brand new catalog – and may have received the very instruments already pictured in the first catalog.  Or perhaps both are correct: the instruments were commissioned, Orville built them, the new Company included them in the first catalog – with their new “official” model numbers – and then they were shipped off.   Finally, there is still the less likely possibility that Orville (and possible new workers) built them brand new instruments within two months.

Regardless of the specifics, we know that the constantly-touring team received the instruments in Seattle upon returning to the mainland after several weeks in Alaska.  Shortly (or immediately) after, on April 10^th, they wrote their testimonial letter to the Gibson Co. (not to Orville, though that could have been expunged).  One discrepancy is the little decorative point on the sub-bass head that seems to be missing in the photo – it’s difficult to say if that tiny dark spot is it.  It also may have been broken off, considering that very few seem to have been built without this distinctive design element.  Besides the large soundhole, the singular defining characteristic of the Monarchs’ Style U and the first Gibson Company catalog Orville-built Style U harp guitar (also appearing in the April, 1903 Cadenza ad at right) is the scroll carved in relief in the headstock.  No other specimen (or image) has been seen with this feature.

I recognized a second wall photo as one of the endless Gibson ad groups in the BMG journals.  I located it in the October, 1904 issue of The Cadenza – where, lo and behold – it reveals that the Tetrauq Quartet was performing at the St. Louis Fair!  Their testimonial letter is dated “St. Louis, Mo., July 4, 1904.”  Not surprisingly, looking at it now, I see another Orville style 9-bass with the body-to-heel bulge (hidden by the hand, but apparent in the carving glare).  It has the large soundhole, indicating an earlier build than the World’s Fair presentation model with its newly designed smaller soundhole.

Here is a slightly better resolution of the photo from a Crescendo issue five years later (May, 1909.  Clearly the Gibson Company kept these photos in their files for years and would trot them out indiscriminately for their assorted Cadenza and Crescendo ads and in-house catalogs.  A perfect illustration of how when we use such “publication dated” photos for provenance, we only know they were photographed by that date, not necessarily in that period...this example appeared at least five years after the fact.)

Of equal interest to me is the photo Gibson included in their exhibit that inexplicably features a Dyer harp guitar!  Alas, the resolution is too poor for us to make out, but it does not match any Dyer image I’ve yet seen.  That’s too bad, because while the image dates from pre-June, 1904, it looks like a possible Type 2 Dyer (the common version), which as far as we have been able to establish, wasn’t introduced until December, 1904!

By the way, in October, 1904 the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company was given the “highest award at the World’s Fair. Their exhibit is the most interesting and attractive of any at the Exposition.”  I, for one, am not surprised!

The 1906 Presentation Harp Guitar

This whole new (re) investigation of mine into the fascinating 1904 era harp guitars was actually prompted by this next instrument – and it is a stunner.

If your eyeballs are going “boing!” like the wolf in a Tex Avery cartoon, you needn’t apologize.  In private hands, this fantastic Gibson harp guitar was purchased by a late collector around 1950, when they were told it was a “backup for the World’s Fair harp guitar, in case anything happened to that one...” – or words to that effect.  Judging by its bling, there could certainly be some truth to the story!

However, there are some significant differences in features which point to a later date – well after the fair’s closing – though perhaps it was thought that the Company needed a second presentation-grade harp guitar in inventory/storage for future occasions.  There was certainly nothing coming up soon – though Peggy mentioned two local Kalamazoo department store displays where it would have been welcome (if perhaps overkill).  Another option is that it was a custom order by some unidentified wealthy performer.  We’ll probably never know.

Confirming the later date, after suggesting the “black light trick” (in a darkened room, it will illuminate faded pencil inscriptions), the owners were able to read and photograph the faded label – serial #5703.  What luck!  This puts it reliably in early 1906 per our current timeline (so much so that I’ve eschewed the “circa” qualifier).  As we happen to have a “smoking gun” date of March 17, 1906 for harp guitar #5760, my extrapolation of production puts 5703 also in early March, 1906 (taking into account a significant production ramp up) or late February (using an unlikely consistent monthly/yearly output) .  The features nicely match up with this time period, though there are of course many custom elements.   It does have some common features with the 1904 World’s Fair harp guitar, and it similarly begs the question: how much was Orville’s design and/or work?

The first difference is that it is not the large-bodied, long-scale Style U – per the owners, it is 18” wide with a 25-1/2” scale.  Thus it’s the smaller Style R – as the proportions of the scroll within the body shape confirm.  (See my blog Huge, Huger, Hugest for comparing the four basic Gibson harp guitar model configurations of size, shape and scale.)

As mentioned earlier, I can easily imagine Orville being receptive to the more accurate and reliable geared tuners, which appeared after 1904.

One obvious Orville holdover – or perhaps a reappearance – is the symmetrical inlaid pickguard under the soundhole (assuming it’s original).  It’s a lovely touch.

Overall, this instrument is fancier than the World’s Fair example by a significant amount.  It has a double row of ornate top binding.  Bling-o-rama! 

This additional pattern is repeated for the soundhole, making it stand out much more than the others’ shell would have.  Note also the design of the fingerboard termination, different than that of the Fair’s.

The flower in the scroll is a wonderful touch!

While the fretboard inlay is the same pattern as all those on this page, the headplate inlay is curiously non-matching.  An original design choice? – or an indication of later alteration? 

Both fretboard and headstock are bound (assumed ivoroid), as are most of the instruments in this article.

I love the “zipper” on the harp arm of both of these presentation instruments – a delicate black and white inlay.  It also appears on the c.1904 Tetrauq instrument above and the two “stair-step bridge” specimens below. 

Note the unique dagger-through-the-winged-heart inlay on the sub-bass headstock.  Surely this has some significance – can any reader solve the mystery?