Harp Guitar Notes

Notes from Stephen:

Greetings fellow guitar enthusiasts! A bit about my harp guitars: The one that I am always seen with (at least for the past 9 years) is a Dyer Brothers symphony harp guitar. It belonged to my great-grandfather, who played it for a long time. He played on Portland, Oregon's first radio station in a band called the Hoot Owls. He also played in saloons in the Yukon during a gold rush early in the century. Talk about a tough gig, imagine plaing for a bunch of lonely miners in Alaska in 1915 or so. I bet he did requests. If someone asks you to play Misty and you play it, even though it hasn't been written yet. This harp guitar was built ty the Larson Brothers in Chicago (Dyer Brothers was a chain of music stores that put their label on the instrument). There is a handwritten 1909 on the label.

Stan Jay at Mandolin Brothers in NY dates the guitar in the early teens, but I usually say 1909 because I have no reason not to. It's close either way.

The harp guitar is a wonderful, indeed magnificent, instrument and I feel quite fortunate to have inherited one. It is a regular 6-string guitar with an extended sound chamber arching up out of the top shoulder. There are 6 sub-basses, tuned (descending in pitch from the closest to the standard 6th string E) G-D-C-B-A-G. I did not discover until after I had the instument for awhile that the original tuning was pretty much a chromatic descent down to A. At the point that I discovered this, I was already used to the above tuning that Ihad worked out and felt no need to change. Besides, I didn't particularly care for the chromatic tuning. I do vary my tuning of these strings sometimes in order to get particular notes or overtones.

Mechanically, it is like having a sustain pedal from a piano combined with a minimalist, but dependable bass player. The additional strings start singing immediately, triggered by the sound of the regular 6 strings. Then, when the thumb reaches down and grabs the occasional bass note, you really have some extra dimensions.

I did not really know my great-grandfather (he was not a blood relation, but my blood great-grandmother's 2nd husband) because he lived in Oregon and I grew up in New York. I was born in Oregon but my parents moved ease when I was 2. After that, we only went back twice, in 1963 and 1965. That last time, I was 9 years old, and althought I can form a picture of my great-grandfather playing the instrument, I really can't remember what it sounded like in his hands. Anyway, I like to think that he would be delighted knowing that it continues to bring magic in people's hearts, which I know it does.

I wrote a song for him some years ago entitled Sea Rose Beach which I consider to be an example of the Muse at work. I had very little to do with the composition of this piece of music, it literally came through me and out the instrument. Sea Rose Beach is the name of the spot of Oregon coastline where my great grandparents lived the last years of their lives and it is a beautiful place indeed. The ocean is the view out the front window and the Siuslaw National Forest rises out of the backyard. On two occasions, when I had not said anything about the origin or title of this song, people have spontaeously told me that they heard the ocean in the music. I am moved by such things. And though I always strive for such communication on all of my guitars, I think the harp guitar really lends itself to magical sounds.

My current harp guitar was made by Jim and Dave Merrill in Williamsburg , Virginia. A seriously great harp guitar it has turned out to be too! It is a faithful reproduction of my great-grandfather’s Dyer and is the first Stephen Bennett model harp guitar from Merrill & Company.

Playing: Sea Rose Beach - 7.16 mb