Now here is a whole lotta guitar!  This is a 1908 Gibson U-Style Harp Guitar, in Excellent Condition, with a huge sound and seemingly endless possibilities for melodic and harmonic expression.  With a six string neck and ten sub-bass strings which can be tuned to support keys or chord voicing, and which resonate sympathetically with the six string component, the complexity and richness of the sound is something you just won’t get anywhere else in a single string instrument.

The U-Style Harp Guitar is a design of Orville Gibson, and comes from a time when guitars were not the most popular stringed instrument in the country.  That title belonged to the mandolin.  While Gibson was making mandolins of every size and shape, to outfit the popular mandolin orchestras of the day, Orville envisioned a supporting instrument that would create the harmonic underpinning of that mandolin orchestra, with a guitar and bass combined into one.  It is fair to say that he missed the boat in terms of how the guitar’s popularity would surpass that of the mandolin, but his unique conception of the future of the acoustic guitar left us with an intriguing instrument, a veritable “missing link” in the evolution of the guitar.

Gibson formally introduced the Harp Guitar in 1903 and offered them in their catalogs until 1937.  They were the most expensive instruments the company made and, understandably, wound up being made in small numbers.  Over the length of their manufacture, it is estimated that Gibson turned out fewer than 400 Harp Guitars.

This particular example adheres to the specs of a 1908 U-Style, with a glued on bridge, and a 21” lower bout. In 1909, the lower bout was reduced to 18” in width and the glued on bridge was replaced with a pair of floating bridges and two trapeze tailpieces.  The larger U-Styles with the glued on bridges are considered the better quality instruments, with much better intonation and reliable tuning stability.  The serial number of this guitar suggests that it is a 1913 model, but Gibson was not making these in 1913. So, it seems that this may have been a guitar that was manufactured in 1908 but not shipped out to a retailer or purchaser until 1913.

Here are the important specs: 

Top: Solid Carved Spruce

Back and Sides: Solid Carved Birch

Neck: Mahogany with a big V/C shoulders shape and a 12” Radius

Fretboard: Ebony

Bridge: Appears to be Cherry

Lower Bout: 21”

Body Depth at Endpin: 3 3/4”

Body Length: 30” from top of scroll

Nut Width: 1 3/4”

String Spacing at Bridge / 6 string side: 2 15/32”

Scale / 6 string side:  25 3/4”

Scale / Harp Side: 33 1/2” to 31 3/8”

Of course, what makes this guitar unique is the Harp and its tuning.  If you peruse the internet, you’ll find that there are numerous resources for Harp Guitar, including historical appreciation societies with documentation on the many ways in which players of the early 1900’s tuned the instrument in support of keys or particular pieces of music.  We chose to look at the tuning of the harp from the standpoint of the contemporary guitarist and the keys in which we tend to play, namely: E, G, A, C and D, along with their relative minors.  With that in mind, we opted to tune the harp to an amalgam of E major and E minor: E, F#, G, G#, A, B, C, C#, D and D#.  The low E of the Harp is one octave below the low E on the six string neck and the D# is a half step below that same six string Low E. This yields the E major scale, along with the flatted third, sixth and seventh.  These notes also comprise the scales of the keys noted above.  Effectively, we left out the F and the Bb of the F scale.  The good news is that we have also included a brand new tuning wrench, and you can change the tuning to suit your own needs and imagination!  Typically, the Harp is tuned in some chromatic scale or another, but we don’t think it absolutely needs to be.  The tension on the Harp strings is low enough that groups of strings could be tuned, for example, to chords or harmonies in support of a specific key.

For strings, we used D’Addario Phosphor Bronze on both the Harp and the six string neck.  The six string has a set of D’Addario Custom Lights (.011-.052) and the Harp is strung, low to high with wound strings in the following gauges: .064, .060, .056, .054, .052, .049, .046, .042, .040, .038.

Playing the Harp Guitar is a new experience and, as you’;d expect, has its own learning curve.  What we found was that learning the harp strings came fairly quickly, especially if you practice playing around a few blues progressions. Also, when a chord is played on the six string, the corresponding fundamental note on the Harp resonates sympathetically, and you can see the vibration and use it as a guide for choosing the supporting harmony in the bass.  It is really a blast to play it.  The action on the six string guitar is a little high at the twelfth fret, 1/8” on the Low E and 7/64” on the High E, but the custom light strings leave the fingering easy.  This is generally speaking not an instrument for shredding, unless you have a third hand to handle the Harp!

Coming into the shop, this U-Style was in Excellent condition, but needed new strings and a couple minor tweaks.  We cleated a small crack in the back, lubricated the tuners, leveled and crowned the frets, dressed fret ends and most significantly, made a case for the instrument.  The case is wooden with a padded upholstered interior, a support for the necks, and wheels on one end for easier transport.  

This is a rare piece, in museum quality condition, and exemplifies the best of the Gibson Harp Guitar designs.  It is a big beast, for sure, but so is the sound and personality of this beauty.  These don’t come around very often.  Of the 400 or so that were made, who can say how many have survived or how many are currently ensconced in museums or otherwise removed from the market place?

Please study the photos carefully, as we have tried to capture this U-Style from all angles.

This Gibson U-Style Harp Guitar is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Serial Number: 13861

Price: $12,500.00 plus $500 shipping (Lower 48 USA, only)