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Topic: What is a Kona Hawaiian Guitar? |
Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2002 9:37 am |
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Was listening to a version of "To know him is to love him" off the Trio album (vinyl) by Linda Rondstat, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton. 1987.
Featured Ry Cooder on tremelo guitar, Albert Lee on acoustic guitar, and David Lindley on Kona Hawaiian guitar, and mandolin.
Beautiful solo.
If I could only play like that!
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 3 Mar 2002 10:04 am
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A Kona is an acoustic Hawaiian guitar made in the 1920's. I believe that Hermann Weissenborn's Los Angeles shop turned out a number of steels with different brand names (Weissenborn, Kona, Hilo) each w/ varying degrees of ornamentation. Unlike the Weissenborn hollownecks with their inlaid fret markers, the Konas had a solid round neck and metal frets and therefore could be played like a regular guitar in a pinch if the nut was lowered. But this wasn't all that practical as the body & neck cxonnected at about the 7th fret. The Kona sound is a little tighter & punchier than the hollownecks. The hollownecks can sound possitively massive and cello-like when set up & recorded correctly.
http://www.rfcharle.com/HTML/PhotosInstruments/Galerie/Kona4.html [This message was edited by Andy Volk on 03 March 2002 at 10:04 AM.] |
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Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2002 10:20 am
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Thanks Andy.
The photos are great.
Beautiful sound. Makes sense now. I've heard a Weissenborn played before. There is a similarity.
One can do a lot with six strings and much feeling. |
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 3 Mar 2002 10:41 am
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| Ron: if you can unearth the video of the Trio song you mention, you'll see Lindley playing the solo on the Kona. [This message was edited by Ian McLatchie on 03 March 2002 at 10:42 AM.] |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 7:33 am
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| Check out a band called "The Henrys" (CDs available from their website). Their leader plays Kona and is quite tasty. The music is really cool too. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 11:29 am
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The Henry's steel player plays a Kona made by Canadian luthier, Joseph Yanuziello. Bill Hardin, of Bear Creek guitars makes a killer Kona update that you can hear on Bob Brozman's duet records on the Dancing Cat label ...
IN THE SADDLE (38051) and KIKA KILA MEETS KI HO'ALU (38031) (with Led Kaapana) and my favorite ... FOUR HANDS SWEET & HOT (38048) (with Cyril Pahinui)
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 3:03 pm
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Just a slight correction, Andy. Don Rooke, the fine steel player for the Henrys, owns several Yanuziello instruments, and plays a Yanuziello Hawaiian King on one track of the Chasing Grace album (there's a small picture of the Hawaiian King on the album cover, too). However, Don's main recording instrument is not a Yanuziello but an original Kona, with a Sunrise pickup; his main tuning, if I remember correctly, is Dobro G, but with a high A in place of the bottom G. The Hawaiian King is not a Kona copy, or for that matter a Weissenborn copy, although it more closely resembles the latter. It has a deeper body, though, and a bracing pattern similar to a pre-war Martin.
Quite simply the most desirable instrument I've ever played. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 6:14 pm
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| Thanks for the info, Ian. Why was the Yanuziello so appealing? |
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 6:44 pm
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What's so appealing about the Hawaiian King? Where to begin. First, like all of Joe's instruments, it's spectacularly beautiful. I don't mean it as a knock on any other builder of Hawaiian and resophonic instruments, but visually, I just don't think anyone else is in the same ball park as Joe. He has an academic background in fine arts and design and more than two decades experience as a high-end furniture builder, and it really shows in the design and finishing quality of his instruments. On the resophonics and Hawaiians, the hand-cut purfling is the most distinctive design feature, but the workmanship is spectacular in every detail.
Still, one strum on any of his instruments and you stop thinking about the looks. I haven't had the chance to play all the custom resophonic brands, but have tried quite a few, and easily prefer my mahogany Yanuziello to all of them. As for the sound of the Hawaiian King, words fail me. As I said in the previous post, it incorprates elements of Martin design, and the sound quality has as much in common with an exceptional old Martin flat top as with a Weissenborn. Huge sound,and perfect balance all the way up the neck. Joe had sound clips on his web site, but as far as I know the site is still down;
I'll post the address when it is up and running again. I believe the London Resonator Centre have photos of some of his instruments on their site.
By the way, his electric guitars and mandolins are also wonderful instruments. Bill Frisell is one of the lastest to buy a guitar.
p.s. I just went and checked. Yes, the London store do have photos on their site (www.resocentre.com), along with photos of many other brands. Great site, great store![This message was edited by Ian McLatchie on 04 March 2002 at 06:52 PM.] [This message was edited by Ian McLatchie on 04 March 2002 at 06:54 PM.] |
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Ron Randall
From:
Dallas, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Mar 2002 7:13 pm
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Thanks Andy.
I have the Brozman/Cyril P CD.
I'll listen again.
Learning at warp speed now! |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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