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Author
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Topic: Alkire Eharp
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Rick Alexander
Member From: Florida, USA
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posted 29 June 2004 12:11 AM
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Well, I just got an Alkire Eharp (10 string) on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3732565914&indexURL=2#ebayphotohosting
I just liked the look of it, and I didn't even think I'd get it. Does anybody have one or know about them, such as what year it was made - SN #T18480 ? ------------------
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Brad Bechtel
Moderator From: San Francisco, CA
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posted 29 June 2004 09:11 AM
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According to Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars and this web page, this guitar would have been made by Valco in 1959. ------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
Ed Naylor
Member From: portsmouth.ohio usa
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posted 29 June 2004 05:02 PM
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I have 2 # T57609 and T18846. They are part of my private collection. Ed Naylor Steel Guitar Works. |
Rick Alexander
Member From: Florida, USA
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posted 29 June 2004 05:26 PM
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Ed - please tell me more. How are they to play? How do they sound? What tuning(s) do you use? What is their value in your opinion? Did you name yours?Brad - Thank you so much - you are the man! Your website continues to be an invaluable resource . . ------------------
Rick Alexander
Fender Stringmaster D8, Fender Dual Professional, Fender Champion, Rickenbacker 6 String
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Ed Naylor
Member From: portsmouth.ohio usa
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posted 30 June 2004 06:44 AM
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Rick- To be honest with you I haven't ever hooked them up.AS far as a tuning I probably would use my ED Naylor"Accidental" tuning I use for my "Thumbpicking".ED |
Karl Oberlander
Member From: Austin, Texas, USA
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posted 30 June 2004 02:32 PM
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Rick,I've been studying the history of Eddie Alkire and the Eharp for a while now as I have what I believe to be the only double 10 Eharp that was made. It was made by Valco in 1954/55. This is dated by the pots. There are no Alkire headstock logos since this was a one off that Eddie had made as an experiment. He never did get the D-10 into production before his demise. Eddie invented his own tuning for the Eharp and it goes like this:
(high to low or as you would see it from behind the necks in playing position) E
C#
B
A
G#
G
F#
F
E
C# As you can see it is nearly a chromatic tuning. Eddie's method required a thumb pick and three finger picks. The tuning was sort of a 6 + 4 setup. That is the high six were used as the melody and the low four were used as bass. I'm still not sure what he was after with the double neck but I imagine it was a shifted tuning to get a bit lower or higher voice. It was not simply an octave difference. The grooves in the nut are the same on both necks so the larger gauges would not work on the second neck. I've found lots of the original Alkire teaching method sheet music and there are several others around the forum that are experimenting with it. I haven't really learned much of it yet but have the rest of my life I guess. Check out my website below for pics. ------------------
Gibson D-8 Console Grande - Stringmaster T-8 - Alkire EHarp D-10
Fender Super Reverb
kobe@austin.rr.com
http://home.austin.rr.com/kobeco
[This message was edited by Karl Oberlander on 30 June 2004 at 02:38 PM.]
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Rick Alexander
Member From: Florida, USA
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posted 30 June 2004 03:43 PM
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Thank you very much Karl - man I could just sit and watch your slide show all night long. Just looking at the D10 gives me chills. What a gorgeous instrument. If my single 10 is half as nice, I'll be happy! 
That double neck Rickenbacker is sweet, too . .
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Rick Alexander
Fender Stringmaster D8, Fender Dual Professional, Fender Champion, Rickenbacker 6 String
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Terry Farmer
Member From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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posted 30 June 2004 03:46 PM
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Rick, go to the top of the page, right under the "add a reply button", and hit search. Type in Eddie Alkire and you will get a wealth of information on your guitar, tuning, the inventor, etc. Hope this helps. |
Michael Lee Allen
Member From: Fresno CA USA
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posted 30 June 2004 07:12 PM
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I have owned TWO doubleneck EHARPS and both are now in Japan. A friend in California saw TWO at a swap meet about twenty years ago and has been kicking himself in the butt ever since for not buying them. and my teacher tells me that the doubleneck versions were actually sold by the teaching network for a short time so there was at least one "batch" made up by Valco.
My current line-up is one of the older Epiphone-made laps, a pearloid Valco lap, and TWO of the natural finished double pickup models with four legs. |
chas smith
Member From: Encino, CA, USA
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posted 30 June 2004 09:37 PM
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 [This message was edited by chas smith on 30 June 2004 at 09:37 PM.] |
Karl Oberlander
Member From: Austin, Texas, USA
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posted 01 July 2004 04:11 AM
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Michael,Did the double neck Eharps resemble mine? Or were they more like the Epiphone made model? I've not seen any others myself so I'm curious how many could have been made. Certainly they didn't sell very well. Also there still is the mystery of the second neck stringing. It wouldn't have been the same on both necks though. Why bother with that? Kobe ------------------
Gibson D-8 Console Grande - Stringmaster T-8 - Alkire EHarp D-10
Fender Super Reverb
kobe@austin.rr.com
http://home.austin.rr.com/kobeco
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Michael Lee Allen
Member From: Fresno CA USA
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posted 01 July 2004 04:41 PM
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EXACTLY like yours as near as I can tell from the photo. One was pearloid and one was paint. One did have logos on the headstocks and the other had a logo on the front like my double pickup instruments. I had a "diatonic" tuning on the second neck of one and a "pseudo-indian" tuning on the other. I would have to check with my computer-less tech to see what a Valco "batch" would have been back in those days. There were probably a dozen or more. With my two, my partner's sighting of two, yours. and another I saw for sale about five or six years ago, that is a total of six known to me. I will have to figure out how to get photos on this thing and put up some of the double pickup instruments. I just got the second one this past week from a friend who had it sitting around doing nothing for fifteen years. Natural finish with a wood handrest integral to the body. Smaller headstock logo plus a Gibson-style script "EHARP" on front. Two metal pickups with two volume controls and a tone control plus a three position National metal-plate selector switch. My serial numbers are G-7680 and G-7693. That close and their cases have different color covering and end stitching. My straight Alkire lap is X-54727 and my Epiphone-made version is 104.[This message was edited by Michael Lee Allen on 01 July 2004 at 04:44 PM.] |
PAUL WARNIK
Member From: OAK LAWN,IL,USA
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posted 01 July 2004 07:43 PM
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Karl O-I too had one of the double neck Alkire E-harps in the "yellow marbloid" "mother of toilet" finish-the second neck came tuned to the Alkire tuning one octave below the standard one |
Graham Griffith
Member From: Glebe, N.S.W., Australia
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posted 02 July 2004 12:37 PM
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Rick,Check your email Graham |
Rick Alexander
Member From: Florida, USA
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posted 02 July 2004 03:20 PM
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Graham - thank you. Those harmonic maps will help a lot - really nice work! And thanks for the great rendition of "Pennies From Heaven" on the Eharp - very impressive!Well, my Eharp just arrived this morning, and it works great. I tuned it up to the Alkire tuning and tried out some of the charts that Maurie and others have been so kind to send me. I love this instrument! It didn't come with legs however. It has 5/8" legholes (3 of them), so the standard legs won't fit. If anybody knows where I might find legs for it, please let me know. ------------------
Rick Alexander
Fender Stringmaster D8, Fender Dual Professional, Fender Champion, Rickenbacker 6 String
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Roy Thomson
Member From: Wolfville, Nova Scotia,Canada
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posted 03 July 2004 12:21 PM
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What is the scale length on these authentic
Eharps? (Measured from where the strings leave the nut and the point where they join the bridge.)
I am interested to know if there may be a difference in this regard depending on the style, manufacturer or model?
Measure up guys and let us know. Just curious!
Roy
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Rick Alexander
Member From: Florida, USA
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posted 03 July 2004 05:00 PM
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The one I just got measures 22 7/8" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3732565914&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT
As Brad pointed out, it's a 1959 Valco made model . .------------------
Rick Alexander
Fender Stringmaster D8, Fender Dual Professional, Fender Champion, Rickenbacker 6 String, Alkire Eharp |
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