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Topic: New Dunn Hawaiian Guitars |
Darrell Urbien
From:
Echo Park, California
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Posted 16 Jul 2008 10:42 pm |
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Hi all,
Canadian Luthier Michael Dunn shared some photos of a couple of his latest guitars with me, and I thought some of you would find them interesting.
First is a striking Weissenborn-style Hawaiian with Ebony back and sides:
I believe that's a Koa top, with rope binding all around:
That's Michael himself doing the modeling... BTW, if you're interested this guitar is for sale; contact Michael at his website:
http://www.michaeldunnguitars.com/
NFI, but (full disclosure) I have commissioned Chris Knutsen-inspired instruments from Michael before. Michael is one of the few luthiers working in this eccentric style. He's certainly the only one I know of making Harp Steel Guitars, a form that probably hasn't been seen on this continent since Knutsen died in 1930.
It's really cool - combining the Weiss-shape along with the hollow harp-arm extension (something Knutsen apparently never did). Michael also includes both sub-bass AND super-treble strings, 17 in all!
And no, it's not a lefty - Michael relocated the harp arm to the treble ("audience") side of the instrument so the player's arm/sleeve would not mute the sub-bass strings while playing the regular (steel) neck.
This guitar was a commission for another Knutsen fan, and will be appearing at the next Harp Guitar Gathering in Portland. Hopefully some video will be uploaded of it as well, so we can see how the new owner plays all those strings!
Enjoy!
_________________
Darrell Urbien
Research Assistant and Sub-Geek for the Knutsen Archives
Member, Echo Park Historical Society |
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Chris Drew
From:
Bristol, UK
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Posted 17 Jul 2008 12:11 am
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Incredible!
I'm wondering what the tuning's gonna be for that Harp-Steel...
And I'm very curious to know what a Weiss sounds like with ebony back & sides...
Doesn't ebony's density make it brittle & hard to work with?
Bending the sides must take some skill.
Such mastery of the art of Luthiery on display here! |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Posted 17 Jul 2008 4:57 am
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That's some amazing guitars!
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube |
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Gary Lynch
From:
Creston, California, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2008 6:01 am
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| I went to his web site which is pretty interesting. However fancy as it is, it dose not show any details or prices on the Weissenborn style guitars. |
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Darrell Urbien
From:
Echo Park, California
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Posted 17 Jul 2008 8:59 am
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You have to email him, as each thing he makes is basically a one-off custom.
There are NEW Dunn Weissenborn-style Hawaiians for sale at both Gruhn's and Mandolin Brothers for $3K. So I'd say he was about in line with most high-end custom builders. The majority of his output is Gypsy jazz guitars; I'm not sure how many Hawaiians he makes a year. Bob Brozman speaks highly of them, FWTW.
I wish Michael's site used his old site's gallery pages. There were many more (clear) photos of lots of different instruments. He uses lots of unusual woods and combinations, so it was cool to see them all in one place. The new Flash site is harder to navigate in that sense, and the photos are too tightly cropped, IMO.
The old gallery also showed off several of his guitars that used ebony (and I don't think it's the same species that's used for fingerboards and such, though I could be wrong). He even had one Gypsy guitar that was entirely made of it - back, sides, AND top. I think it had purpleheart trim. Talk about striking! He played it at DjangofestLA and it sounded great too!
Here are some more recent Dunns from the Montreal Guitar Show website. Use the scroll arrows to see the 7 string Weiss (and Howard R's Hawaiienne)! |
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John Bushouse
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Posted 17 Jul 2008 8:42 pm
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Oh. My. God.
Oh. My. God.
A Knutsen-inspired harp steel.
Oh. My. God.
I must find someone to whom I can sell a kidney. |
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