Knutsen Harp Ukulele HU15

This is a nice find!
The earliest known harp uke so far - it has a Harp Guitar Factory label which clearly dates the instrument to 1913 or 1914. It has "Patent aplod (sic)" handwritten on the label, most likely a precursor to the printed "Patent Applied For" labels (see HU11 & HU12). These latter then gave way to the "New Hawaiian Family" labels with the falsely-advertised "C. Knutsen's Patents" included (at least, no one's been able to track down these "patents").
Note the fancy multi-colored rope binding on the body and neck.
It has a slightly different shape, with the bass arm further away from the neck. The neck and bridge are quite offset - Researcher Ben Elder, who inspected the instrument, thought this was from a bad repair job. Assuming this true, I adjusted the neck and bridge in Photoshop to what may have been closer to the original configuration (note that the neck still does not connect to the arm - unlike all later harp ukuleles).
More intriguing is the single bass string on the harp arm! The bridge seems to indicate that this was added later (and I believe this is most likely the case) - BUT ... the tuning peg in the arm certainly makes sense for a Knutsen design - as would just slapping on a standard uke bridge (and remember, this is an early, possibly experimental, instrument). We may never know for certain!

Knutsen Archives Inventory Number		HU15
Category		Harp Ukuleles
Body Style		"Early"
Current or last known owner		unknown
Year (approx)		1913-1914
Label		Harp Guitar Factory, with hand written "Patent aplod"
Label Code		SE7 (partial, with additional handwriting)
Courses / Strings		5 courses: 4 strings on neck, 1 bass
Scale length		unknown
Woods	Top	koa
	Back & Sides	koa
	Neck	?
	Fingerboard	?
	Bridge	?
	Headstock veneer	unknown
Binding, trim	Top	multi-colored rope
	Back	none
	Fingerboard	multi-colored rope
	Headstock(s)	none
	Soundhole	rope, wood
Inlay		none
Pickguard		none
Comments

(left: current restored condition, right: possible original condition)