Ever seen a guitar like this?

Subject: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 01 Mar 07 - 04:46 PM

My sister picked up this old guitar and was asking if I know anything about it. I don't. Anyone ever come across such a thing?

old guitar

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 01 Mar 07 - 04:53 PM

Sure. It's a Hawaiian Guitar, possibly a Regal or Harmony, maybe even an Oahu, though they usually put their own brand on 'em. It's intended for playing on the lap, with a bar of steel held in the left hand and placed on the strings. A less-expensive relative of the Dobro, without the panache of having a metal cone to produce the sound. I have an Oahu that's fun to play -- kind of mellow for a Hawaiian guitar, and not nearly as loud as a resonator guitar (Dobro or National). But fun.

Properly played (don't look at me!) it can be very nice. But technique is important; just plopping the steel onto the strings and expecting to sound like Buck Graves or his ilk won't cut it. The "touch" needed for clean Hawaiian playing is not obtained in just a week, no matter how well one can play a "regular" guitar.

Bob

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Muttley
Date: 02 Mar 07 - 01:54 AM

I've seen one MANY many yeas ago as a curiosity in a music shop. The guy there said (as was explained above) that it's intended use was as type of 'slide' guitar - however, he said they were most often purchased to teach young players what each note was when the a string was pressed on any given fret - thus new learners could learn to play "note-by-note".

Dunno how accurate that was - I was about 15 at the time (so around '73)and the guitar I saw LOOKED old then.

Muttley

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: GUEST,Darowyn
Date: 02 Mar 07 - 07:40 AM

If you look at the notes on the frets, you can see that it is tuned to an open Chord.
It is clearly labelled as a Hawaiian guitar, but the action looks a little low to be played with a steel slide, and the frets are actual wire, not just position marks.
So my guess is that it is meant for playing Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar style.
It is a fingerpick style with lots of pull-offs and hammer-ons in which melody lines are played accompanied by harmony notes on the open strings-very much like DADGAD playing.
As such it pre-dates slide guitar in Hawaii.
There was a huge Hawaiian craze in both the USA and Britain in the early part of the 20th century.
Check out my good Friend Basil on http://www.waikikiislanders.com for more about Hawaiian Music
Cheers
Dave
(Steel guitar player)

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: GUEST,Darowyn
Date: 02 Mar 07 - 07:44 AM

This is the Waikiki Islanders Site

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 02 Mar 07 - 03:05 PM

As such it pre-dates slide guitar in Hawaii.

Are you sure of this? It looks to me like a typical 1930-50s "Hawaiian" guitar, without the raised nut needed for playing slide -- in other words, a convertible Hawaiian guitar. You would use one of those metal raised nuts to play it slide style. But I don't think these would pre-date the Dobro or National patents, and those were built to meet the demand of the Hawaiian music craze you mention. That craze was for slide guitar, slack-key guitar (which never caught on as much as the slide) and the ukulele. I don't know of any commercial instrument with a note-chart on the fingerboard that wasn't a Hawaiian guitar (regular fingering would soon destroy the chart, for one thing), and the open tuning notes give it away, too.

So I stand behind my original response -- it's a commercial Hawaiian guitar, probably made by Harmony, Regal, or possibly even Kay, under another brand, and no earlier (but probably later) than 1925.

Songbob

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Darowyn
Date: 02 Mar 07 - 07:42 PM

It was the slack key style that pre-dates slide playing in Hawaii, not this guitar.
It does look to be a late thirties style, though it could be as late as the fifties, as you say.
But it is certainly not set up for slide playing- though that does not mean that nobody tried!
I see many postings on Hawaiian guitar fora bemoaning the near extinction of slide Hawaiian guitar on Hawaii itself. Slack key does seem to be having a revival there at the moment.
The two camps are nearly as friendly to each other as the Trad and Modern folkies are!
Cheers
Dave
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 03 Mar 07 - 08:50 PM

Thanks, guys!

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Sorcha
Date: 03 Mar 07 - 08:55 PM

Hey, welcome back! We've missed you!!!

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: GUEST,The owner!
Date: 04 Mar 07 - 01:32 PM

I am also not convinced its a slide guitar. And it was made by Richter mfg,co. Does that help? However I bow to others knowledge and experience as I am a complete novice!

Subject: RE: Ever seen a guitar like this?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 05 Mar 07 - 12:26 AM

How it cannot be a slide guitar I cannot see. That is to say, I think it's a Hawaiian guitar, meant for use with a metal "nut raiser" but playable as a regular guitar, too.

Why do I think so?

(1) it has the notes for open tunings on the paper guides on the fingerboard -- a "regular" guitar would have the standard EADGBE tuning noted;
(2) slack-key guitar was never popular enough on the mainland to cause anyone to build a guitar for the market (and there are several tunings for slack-key, too -- which one would you put on your fingerboard?);
(3) it has a paper guide on the fingerboard -- a fretted guitar with paper on the fingerboard soon loses the paper on the fingerboard, from finger wear -- the paper is not meant to be touched very often, so the guitar is meant to be played with a steel; and
(4) I tend to be pedantic, so if I say it's a Hawaiian guitar, that's what it is!

(Only the last point is important -- the others are simply logic)

Bob