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Topic: Unusual Alkire EHarp |
Mark Tucker
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2010 7:18 pm |
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An EHarp made in 1961 by a C.F. Martin employee whose son was a student of Eddie Alkire. Alkire's jaw must have dropped when the kid pulled this out of the case, but the lessons evidently didn't take--the instrument remained in untouched condition, stored for more than four decades in its standard EHarp case of the era. The employee had started working at the Martin factory just after WW II, learning to execute the appointments of the top-of-the-line prewar Martins, the 45's, though no such abalone-trimmed instruments were being made by Martin for about the first 25 years he worked there. This was his own application of the Martin design sense and his skills to a steel--an "E-45." Solid Honduras mahogany body overlaid with a thin layer of spruce to make it look like a Martin flat-top, but everything was fastened solidly into the mahogany for sustain. Brazilian rosewood headstock overlay, fingerboard, and handrest. Hardware all evidently procured direct from Valco except for the Grover Rotomatic machines then being used on Martin guitars. Some ride.
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J. Wilson
From:
Manitoba, Canada
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Posted 12 Aug 2010 7:28 pm
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WOW 
Incredible!! What an outstanding looking lap steel!! (sorry... E-Harp) Any sound samples?
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If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On. -Shakespeare
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1941 Ric B6 / 1948 National Dynamic / 1951 Bronson Supro / Custom teak wood Allen Melbert / Tut Taylor Dobro / Gold Tone Dojo / Martin D15S / Eastman P10 |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Travis Hillis
From:
Nashville TN, USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2010 8:44 pm
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 Holy crap thats nice!!! |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 3:01 am
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| That's beyond awesome. What a find! |
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Stan Schober
From:
Cahokia, Illinois, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 5:54 am
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HoRee Moses !!!
As my Grandpa used to say, "That's a keeper !!"
_________________
Emmons S-8 P/P,DeArmond 40. Slowly drifting back towards sanity. |
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Peter Lindelauf
From:
Penticton, BC
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 9:26 am
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After buying six guitars in the past year--most of them 1950s classics--thought I was pretty well done with the guitar envy. Nope. What a beauty. Kind of a poignant father/son story, too. When I was teaching myself to play guitar and sing forty years ago, my dad used to knock on my bedroom door and offer me an Aspirin. I stuck with it all the same.
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...but you are the music / while the music lasts (TS Eliot) |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 9:57 am
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| Mark, THANK.YOU.FOR.SHARING! |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 10:44 am
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| WHOA!!! |
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Joseph Meditz
From:
Sierra Vista, AZ
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 11:14 am
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| Dig that three octave fret board shaped something like the state of Tennessee. |
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Ryan Barwin
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Mark Lavelle
From:
San Mateo, CA
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David Eastwood
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 13 Aug 2010 3:59 pm
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| What a beautiful piece of work - captures the Martin aesthetic perfectly! |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 14 Aug 2010 9:40 am
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Glenn Uhler
From:
Trenton, New Jersey, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2011 7:16 pm
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| I started Eharp lessons from Mr. Alkire in July of 1960. I was also raised about 5 miles from the Martin factory, but I never saw that masterpiece before. It almost sounds like you are describing Mike Longworth's career and something he would have built. |
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Geoff Cline
From:
Southwest France
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Posted 6 Feb 2011 8:20 am
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OK, without question, the most beautiful and amazing lap steel I've ever seen. AND, if it sounds half as good as it looks, it could be the best sounding guitar too!
Incredible doesn't begin to get close. Whoever owns/plays it is a very lucky person. |
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Mark Tucker
From:
Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2011 3:28 pm
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| Thanks for your kind comments, Geoff. The fellow who made this eye-popping guitar, long retired from Martin, was so pleased to hear that folks on the Forum appreciate what he achieved in making this this ultra-deluxe Eharp. He is a wonderfully modest man, but I think he is pretty proud of this instrument, and rightly so! Martin really set a high standard for precision and elegance in build and binding work, and the maker of this one-off steel was a master with outstanding skills and taste. In retirement he has stayed very busy as a seriously good prizewinning pie baker on a commercial scale, shoo-fly a specialty. |
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Glenn Uhler
From:
Trenton, New Jersey, USA
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Posted 6 Feb 2011 3:39 pm
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| Now I definitely know who built the Eharp. Frank refretted a Martin round-back mandolin for me and he was a friend of my fathers. Last time I was in Nazareth, I heard that he had sold the pie business. |
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