Harp ukulele

Last updated
Modern harp ukulele with two harp strings coming from the arm. Harp ukulele by wailua.jpg
Modern harp ukulele with two harp strings coming from the arm.

The term harp ukulele is used to describe two different variants of the ukulele:

Contents

History

The harp ukulele appeared in the 1910s, when the harp guitar was experiencing some popularity, and the ukulele had just begun to experience nationwide popularity in the United States due to its use at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915.

After the popularity of both the harp guitar and ukulele faded, the harp ukulele lost what little market share it had. However, in the late 20th century various luthiers returned to experimenting with the harp ukulele design, both the string-less extended-bout type, as well as the added-strings true harp type.

Early 20th Century harp ukulele luthiers

Modern makers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ukulele</span> Musical instrument of the guitar family

The ukulele, also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String instrument</span> Class of musical instruments with vibrating strings

String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zither</span> Class of stringed musical instruments

Zithers are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. This article describes the latter variety.

The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar. In addition, the music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called cachi cachi music, on the islands of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nyckelharpa</span> Traditional Swedish musical instrument

A nyckelharpa is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven-string guitar</span>

The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range or also to extend the treble range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banjo ukulele</span> Hybrid musical instrument

The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both in 1917.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibson EDS-1275</span> Model of guitar

The Gibson EDS-1275 is a doubleneck Gibson electric guitar introduced in 1963 and still in production. Popularized and raised to iconic status by musicians such as John McLaughlin and Jimmy Page, it was called "the coolest guitar in rock."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiple</span> Fretted string instrument

A tiple, is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a tiplista. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although many variations of the instrument exist, the tiple is mostly associated with Colombia, and is considered the national instrument. The Puerto Rican version characteristically has fewer strings, as do variants from Cuba, Mallorca, and elsewhere among countries of Hispanic origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ampeg</span> American audio equipment manufacturer

Ampeg is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guitar Group. Although specializing in the production of bass amplifiers, Ampeg has previously manufactured guitar amplifiers and pickups and instruments including double basses, bass guitars, and electric guitars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harp guitar</span> Guitar-based string instrument

The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to its harp-like unstopped open strings. A harp guitar must have at least one unfretted string lying off the main fretboard, typically played as an open string.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jarana jarocha</span> Musical instrument from southern Veracruz, Mexico

The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Typically strung with 8 strings in 5 courses, usually arranged in two single outer strings with three double-courses in between. The strings are usually nylon, although they were gut in the past. The body is somewhat narrower than a guitar because of its direct lineage from the Spanish baroque guitar of the sixteenth century. Sometimes mistaken for a ukulele, the jarana jarocha comes in at least five sizes, the smallest being the chaquiste, somewhat smaller than a soprano ukulele; then the mosquito, about the size of a soprano ukulele; the 'primera', about the size of a concert ukulele; the 'segunda', in length between a tenor and a baritone ukulele; and the 'tercera', somewhat longer than the baritone ukulele. Some luthiers are building jaranas of a size they label "tercerola" or "jarana cuarta", but there is some discussion as to whether these represent a distinct size or are merely particularly large variations of the standard tercera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acoustic guitar</span> Fretted string instrument

An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole. The original, general term for this stringed instrument is guitar, and the retronym 'acoustic guitar' distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reentrant tuning</span> Break in an otherwise ascending or descending order of string pitches

On a stringed instrument, a break in an otherwise ascending order of string pitches is known as a re-entry. A re-entrant tuning, therefore, is a tuning where the strings are not all ordered from the lowest pitch to the highest pitch.

The Fender Bullet was an electric guitar originally designed by John Page and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustang and Musicmaster models.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ten-string guitar</span> Musical instrument

There are many varieties of ten-string guitar, including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lag (company)</span> French music company

Lâg Guitars is a French music company founded in the Occitania region of France by luthier Michel Lâg-Chavarria in 1980. Lâg produces various acoustic guitars, smart guitars and ukuleles. They are designed in the south of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuatro (Venezuela)</span>

The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ad'f#'b). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the ukulele, but the A and B are an octave lower. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different inversion of each chord. A cuatro player is called a cuatrista.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collings Guitars</span> American stringed instrument manufacturer

Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas based stringed instrument manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 by BillCollings. In addition to acoustic guitars they also make electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lichty Guitars</span>

Lichty Guitars is an American company based in Tryon, North Carolina, that has been making custom acoustic guitars and ukuleles since 2009. It was founded by musician Jay Lichty, who honed his craft with luthier Wayne Henderson.

References

  1. Zachary R. Fjestad, S. P. Fjestad Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars Blue Book Publications, Inc. 2003-2005. ISBN   1-886768-58-7