Harp Guitar Makers and Restorers

Last Update: December, 2011

Disclaimer:
Harpguitars.net is not affiliated with, nor endorses the products of, nor necessarily shares the philosophical, political or religious views of any of the luthiers on this page. All are listed as a courtesy to them, potential clients, and for archival purposes. When notified by customers of a serious breach of professional ethics (ie: non-delivery, etc) I may note so on an entry. If anyone sees a comment that is in error, please notify me immediately if these issues have been resolved. - GM

This page features alphabetical listings of professional and amateur luthiers who have built at least one professional quality harp guitar. Historical (pre-1970) luthiers are listed on the Makers page. Modern builders are separated into these loose and broadly defined categories - they are not separated by type or style of instrument, as some build a variety of instruments, while others' designs are difficult to describe!

Dedicated Harp Guitar Luthiers Includes professional and up-and-coming builders who have established a reputation for harp guitars (or beginning to) and/or are serious about offering harp guitar models or commissions. Most have built several instruments.

Occasional, First-Time or Retired Harp Guitar Luthiers Includes newcomers to hobbyists to the finest luthiers in the world. This group has dabbled in the harp guitar world, making one or two instruments. Perhaps some of these will become established repeat builders like those above. Some instruments may now be ancient history, others are brand new (some may still be available). The list includes a few well known harp guitar builders who have since disappeared or retired.

Personal Instrument Harp Guitar Luthiers Includes innovative builders ranging from highly skilled professionals to part time amateurs. They have created instruments for their own use and may or may not build for other clients.

In Memoriam

LUTHIERS - please help me keep this page current! Contact me with:

Your latest build
Your web site "Making Of" articles (now listed under each entry; should be fairly detailed, not just a few build process photos)
Your image (if I don't have one, or update it if you've had a makeover)
Updated or improved photos for the Galleries/Luthier page
Updates regarding your status and activities for this page

Featured Harp Guitar Lutherie Articles

Non-Standard Scale Harp Guitars

by Gregg Miner, July, 2009
Updated October, 2009

Featured Harp Guitar Lutherie Article Archives

	Allan Beardsell (Canada) Original design
	Mike Brittain (North Fort Myers, Florida) Dyer copies
	Brunner Guitars (Lavin, Switzerland) Outdoor Harp Guitars (travel harp guitars)
Lukas Brunner and the World’s First Travel Harp Guitars! by Gregg Miner
	Luciano Buscarini (Osimo, Italy) one-of-a-kind designs

	Fred Carlson (Santa Cruz, CA) Harp-Sympitars and one-of-a-kind designs

Fred Carlson: *Making Sound Look Good* by Wade Vonasek Fred Carlson: The New Dream: 39-string acoustic Harp-Sympitar with MIDI-capability (2006) Fred Carlson: *Big Red: A 38-string custom Harp-Sympitar* (2005) Fred Carlson: *The Flying Dream: 39-string acoustic Harp-Sympitar with MIDI capability* (2003) Fred Carlson: *The Harpouditar: A 26-String Guitar/Oud/Zither* (2002) Fred Carlson: *Design and Construction of Oracle, 24-string Harp-Sympitar* (2002) Fred Carlson: *Kali: 12-String Guitar with 2 Added Sub-basses* (2000)
	Alan Carruth (Newport, New Hampshire) Original harp guitar designs
	Davide Castellaro (Italy) Acoustic and electric harp guitars for Paolo Giordano and others
	Kerry Char (Portland, OR) Left-handed Dyer copy and vast experience in restoring harp guitars
	Mike Doolin (Portland, OR) Original designs for Muriel Anderson and others

Mike Doolin: Muriel Anderson's Harp Requinto Mike Doolin: 20-string Harp Guitar Mike Doolin: 17-string Jazz Harp Guitar Mike Doolin: *22-string Double Neck Harp Guitar*
	Michael Dunn (New Westminster, BC Canada) Builds various Knutsen-inspired instruments
	William Eaton (Phoenix, AZ) Director of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, numerous unique harp guitar and related designs

	Harry Eibert (Syracuse, NY) Dyer/Knutsen inspired harp guitar, ukes and mando
	Jeffrey Elliott (Portland, OR) Designed John Doan's original 20-string harp guitar, and nylon string harp guitar
	David Enke (La Veta, Colorado) Original electro-acoustic designs
	Dave Evans (Brussels, Belgium) Harp guitar for Pierre Bensusan and additional instruments Email
Dave Evans: Pierre Bensusan's 23-String Harp Guitar
	Harry Fleischman (Sebastopol, CA) Original designs
	Fritz Harich (Austria) Schrammel guitars: 2 models
	Duane Heilman (Yakima, Washington) Harp Ukuleles, with and without bass strings
	Jim Hewett (Panorama Village, TX) Dyer variants and originals
	Kenny Hill / Hill Guitar Company (Ben Lomond, CA) "Terry Schumacher" 11-string	Note: Kenny's instruments are tricky! The instrument at left is a harp guitar with the lowest strings floating (see George Smith entry in second section) The instrument on the right is not a harp guitar, but an otherwise identical Schumacher-style 11-string with one fret fully spanning all strings.
	Charles Hoffman (Minneapolis, MN) Dyer copies
Charles Hoffman: Harp Guitar
	Pete Howlett (Wales) Dyer style harp guitars, "Sharp guitar" and harp ukuleles
	Bernhard Kresse (Cologne, Germany) Restoration and reproductions of Early Romantic era harp guitars
	Yuri Landman (Amsterdam) Electric harp guitar and other sympathetic string electric guitars and zithers
	Marko Lipovsek (Slovenia) Original instruments
	Rich Mermer (Sebastian, FL) Original designs
Rich Mermer: The Making of "Thor's Hammer"
	Merrill Guitars (Williamsburg, VA) (804) 462-7777 Stephen Bennett model and other Dyer copies
	Roland Metzer (Warngau, Germany) Replica of wappen-shaped 1907 Hans Raab
	Benoît Meulle-Stef (Belgium) Builds original harp guitar designs and restores kontragitarres

	Orville and Bob Milburn (Sweet Home, OR) Variants of the Sullivan-Elliott harp guitar
	David Newton (Beaumont, TX) Harp mandolins
	Duane Noble (Richland, WA) Contemporary Knutsen/Dyer-inspired harp guitars
	Alan Perlman (San Francisco, CA) "Arch guitars" for James Kline, and similar harp guitars
Alan Perlman: Arch Harp Guitar
	Anthony & Dave Powell / Tonedevil (Idaho) Knutsen-inspired instruments
	Antonello Saccu (Genoa, Italy) Built two Gazzo reproduction Italian instruments for Beppe Gambetta, and modern harp guitars as well
	Bernd Schneider (Germany) Schrammel guitars
	Stephen Sedgwick (England)Numerous harp guitar designs, modern, reproductions, and in-between. Stephen is also a scholar of the harp guitar's history

Stephen Sedgwick: *Making Harp Guitars* Stephen Sedgwick: *Torres 11 String Copy*
	Seraph Harp Guitars (England) Designer Tony Seeger and luthier Nathan Sheppard created this new design
	Jeff Sigurdson (Canada) Dyer copies
	Ron Steiger (Ventura, CA) Dyer/Knutsen inspired designs
	Michael Thames (Taos, NM) The "Dresden" - a 13-course theorboed classical guitar
	Scot Tremblay (Victoria, B.C) Lacote heptacorde copy, 8-string Staufer copy
	Jan Tuláček (Czech Republic) 8-string Ries copy, 9-string Schenk bogengitarre copy
	Mitsuhiro Uchida (Japan) Original designs inspired by John Doan's Sullivan-Elliott 4947-27 Fujisawa Takato-cho, Kamiina-gun, Nagano, JAPAN Post Code: 396-0301 Telephone: 0265-96-2145 Mr. Uchida does not have a PC. His client Morihiko Yasuda has kindly created the above web page for him
	Instruments Lamour (France) Cédric Verglas (previously Pierre Lamour) Original harp guitar designs
Pierre Lamour: *Eclose: 17 String Extended Guitar, Cyclopea: 12 String Harp Guitar*
	Edgar Vila (Naples, FL) Dyer design for Andy Wahlberg
	David White: De Faoite Stringed Instruments (Bucks, England) Original designs
David White (De Faoite Stringed Instruments): Making a Harp Guitar
	Kathy Wingert (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) Harp guitars for Frank Doucette, Stephen Bennett, Pete Bradshaw and others
	Steve Wishnevsky (Winston Salem, NC) Highly unusual, simply- constructed designs
	Jim Worland (Rockford, IL) William Eaton lyraharp guitar variations and original designs inspired by Gibson, Sullivan/Elliott and more

	Jeffrey Yong (Malaysia) Dyer/Knutsen inspired design for Don Alder and others

Occasional, First-Time or Retired Harp Guitar Luthiers

From newcomers to hobbyists to the finest luthiers in the world, this group has dabbled in the harp guitar world, making one or two instruments. Perhaps some of these will become established repeat builders like those above. Some instruments may now be ancient history, others are brand new (some may still be available). The list includes a few well known harp guitar builders who have since disappeared or retired.

	Arul (India) Composite harp sympathetic guitar
	Alberto Bonafini (Ceneselli, Italy) Original design
	Des Anthony (Australia) Dyer/Knutsen inspired design
	Peter Biffin (NSW, Australia) Modern theorboed guitar
	Julius Borges (Littleton, Mass) "Mini-Harp" Guitar for Emmylou Harris
	R.E. Brune (Chicago, IL) Scherzer restorations and copy for Brian Torosian
	Douglas Ching (Chester, VA) Dyer inspired design
	Jim Claridge (England) Dyer inspired designs
	Cloe Guitars (Italy) Daniele Cardoni and Luca Cesaroni: electric harp guitar
	Dan Dachel (Fort Collins, CO) Original electric-acoustic for Jerry Palmer
	David Dart (Northern CA) Bowl-back theorbed harp steel for Ben Harper
	Mervyn Davis (Gauteng, South Africa) 13-string "Baroque" Smoothtalker
	J. Thomas Davis (Columbus, OH) Dyer style for Bill Dutcher
	Mark Deering (St. Paul, MN) Original design
	Sergei de Jonge (Quebec, Canada) 17-string guitars for Ted Lebar, Tyler Hawkins and others
	Ellie Erickson Electric harp guitars
	Luciano Faria (São Paulo, Brazil) Reproductions of c.1760 theorboed guitar
	Steven Ganz (Bellingham, WA) 11-string classical guitar
	Michael Greenfield (Quebec) Harp guitar for Andy McKee
	Edward Hiew (Malaysia) Harp guitar for Roger Wang
	Stephen Hill (Granada, Spain) "Ha Shem" double-neck harp guitar for Antonio Esteban
	Erik Pierre Hofmann (France) Modern theorboed guitar, 8-string Stauffer copy
	Tony Karol (Canada)
	Steve Klein (Linden, CA) Electric harp guitars for Michael Hedges and others
	Del Langejans (Holland, MI) Dyer/Knutsen inspired design for Muriel Anderson
	Linda Manzer 42-string Pikasso guitars for Pat Metheny and Scott Chinery, Medusa harp guitar
	Mauro Marchesini (Crevalcore Italy) Contemporary hollow-arm harp guitar
	Michihiro (Michi) Matsuda (Oakland, CA) Original design for Michael Simmons
	Joseph Mayes 7th floating D string, a la Lacôte
	Peter McGilton "exotic" electric guitars
	Chris McKenna McKenna Flutes, Inc. 8 Raymond Road Deerfield, NH 03037 Phone 1-603-463-4185 Fax 1-603-463-7230 Email
	Ken Miller (Tallahassee, FL) Harp ukulele
	Dennis Mitchell (Oak Point, TX) Original harp guitar designs
	Massimiliano (Max) Monterosso (Padova, Italy) Original harp guitar for Francesco Faldani.
	Ralph Novak (San Leandro, CA) Built Phil DeGruy's electric "Guitarp"
	Oakwood Instruments (Leeds, England) Martyn Banks & Gordon Hewson built this copy of a William Eaton design [with 2 banks of strings on the body] for Indian guitarist Rajan Spolia
	Michel Pellerin (Canada) Mike Doolin-inspired harp guitar
	Patrick Podpadec (Madison, OH) "Dreamcaster" for Brian Henke Email
	Nick Pyall (London, England) Reproduction of c.1860 Martin 10-string and 1861 Scherzer 10-string
	Yvon Robert (Quebec) Harp Stick for Naki
	Michael Sandén (Sweden)
	Jack Sanders (Los Angeles, CA) Lacote decacorde reproduction
	Sandpiper Instruments/John Westling (Coquille, OR) Sandpiper no longer builds harp guitars
	Federico Sheppard (Green Bay, WI) 12-course Spanish guitar [3 floating basses] for Peter Lang Email
	Charles Shifflett (Alberta, Canada) Email
	Takahiro Shimo (Tokyo, Japan) Original dual-arm design
	George Smith (Portland, OR) Original 11-string guitars for Terry Schumacher
	Ervin Somogyi (Oakland, CA) Original design
	Hubert Soumis-Pilon (Canada) Modern Schenk-inspired 21-string
	Gary Southwell (Nottingham, U.K.) Scherzer restoration and copy and James Kline's first "archguitar"
	Ron Spillers (Richmond, VA) Dyer harp guitar variants, played by Andy McKee, Dan LaVoie and others Believed retired 8342 Greenock drive Richmond VA 23235 Phone: (804) 327-3864
	Walter Stanul (Boston, MA) Creator of the arch-guitar for Peter Blancette and others, two of these instruments were in harp guitar form
	Daniel Stark (Apen, Germany) 11-string Torres style
	David Taylor (Nashville, TN) Steel-string harp guitar for Muriel Anderson
	Dake Traphagen (Bellingham, WA) Nylon-string harp guitar
	Wallace Guitars (Niota, TN) Harp guitar for Kyle Reeder
	Glenn Wilson (Australia) Has an instrument based on a design concept by Fred Carlson - with Doolin-like double-cutaways
	Steve Wise (Texas) Dyer-inspired harp guitar and harp-uke 512-282-6418 Email

Personal Instrument Harp Guitar Luthiers

These makers include innovative builders ranging from highly skilled professionals to part time amateurs. They have created instruments for their own use and may or may not build for other clients.

Bart Applewhite (Phoenix, AZ)

Financial manager of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery: electric harp bass

Tim Donahue (Japan)

Built his own electric fretless and fretted harp guitars

*In Memoriam* *Harp Guitar friends who are deeply missed*
	Lance McCollum Dyer-inspired instruments Lance passed away suddenly on February 1, 2009
	Otto Schneider (Germany) Schrammel guitars *Otto passed away in 2009. His son Bernd is carrying on the business.*
	John Sullivan John Doan's original 20-string harp guitar *John passed away on April 21, 2007*