NGD - Angel Wing Harp Guitar

GTC

Somewhat belatedly, here's an NGD (of 6 weeks ago) for my beautiful 22-string Angel Wing Harp Guitar (Left-Handed) made for me by Glastonbury luthier extraordinaire, Alan Miller.

Below is a OneDrive link to a photo of me playing it on collection (or, at least, trying too) - followed by a copy of a brief review I did for Alan's website.

Note: I used to have no problem in embedding OneDrive photos - but I can't seem to do that now.

Photo link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArtIPixHCt8yl2F3Cwb-afmwtJDa?e=HJPBLQ

Review:

Having heard about the model Alan made for the somerset musician Jon Pickard, I really wanted to try a harp guitar. But I’m left -handed - so I asked Alan to make one for me.

Despite some words of caution from Alan and Jon, I went for a fully featured version with eight super-trebles (high harp strings) and eight sub-basses (low harp strings) – each arranged over an A to A octave with 1:4 ratio banjo tuners and some clever little levers to raise the tone of each individually up a semitone if required – each bank of eight supported by a pair of nicely shaped utile (mahogany) “angel wings”.

Sandwiched in between is a standard classical guitar.

What a fine instrument it is – well up with Alan’s usual high standard of craftmanship and thought - with a spruce top, rosewood back and sides and ebony fretboard, and top-quality Schaller Hauser guitar tuning machines.

The sound of the guitar section is magical – with the harp strings resonating in sympathy to provide a sound like no other classical guitar I’ve played before. I’m still getting to grips with the harp strings, not having fully appreciated the difference in thinking and technique that would be required. However, with Jon’s excellent introductory publication “How to Tame Your Harp Guitar” I am slowly making progress.

I’m looking forward to exploring a new world of music making with this wonderful instrument.

Winny_Pooh

Wonderful, you must be thrilled

Mellish

Looks very nice.

The strings either side of the fretboard are obviously drones.

 

Tall_martin

Sweet guitar!

What sort of music is it for? I'm guessing- not metal

GTC

Mellish said:

Looks very nice.

The strings either side of the fretboard are obviously drones.

 

The bass harp strings (sub-basses) are indeed generally used as drones. The high harp strings (super-trebles) can be used for melody or high chordal accompaniment, picked out.

Here is a link to Jon Pickard's website which has a number of videos illustrating the point much better than I could https://www.jonpickard.co.uk/harp-guitar .

The angel wing design is slightly different to most harp guitars in that the sub-basses are arranged with the lowest string nearer the guitar low E - the model Jon plays in most of his videos have them the other way round. The angel wing design has the advantage of being more compact - and providing a very convenient carrying handle!

GTC

Tall_martin said:

Sweet guitar!

What sort of music is it for? I'm guessing- not metal

Well, I normally play classical guitar - but the sub-basses and super-trebles are metal 

ToneControl

Does it have fitted pickups?
If so are they separate outputs for the different sets of strings?

roberty

Tall_martin said:

Sweet guitar!

What sort of music is it for? I'm guessing- not metal

Symphonic metal

Looks great @GTC, how do you play it? Do the harp strings ring sympathetically or do you pluck them too?

GTC

ToneControl said:

Does it have fitted pickups?
If so are they separate outputs for the different sets of strings?

No pickups. Alan has previously made a full-size concert harp (not harp guitar) with individual pickups for each string - quite a feat of engineering.

GTC

roberty said:

Tall_martin said:

Sweet guitar!

What sort of music is it for? I'm guessing- not metal

Symphonic metal

Looks great @GTC, how do you play it? Do the harp strings ring sympathetically or do you pluck them too?

Yes, you pluck the harp strings. It is worth looking at Jon Pickard's videos on the link previously provided to get an idea of how the strings can work together.

Having said that, just playing the guitar part, the harp strings do resonate in sympathy - giving a rather pleasing and different reverb effect.

By pure coincidence, Jon is doing a gig in my village on Sat 12th Nov, which I'm really looking forward to. Promo video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgLpg69Da0  

Ungulate

Blimey that's only 6 miles from my place, I'm going!

GTC

Ungulate said:

Blimey that's only 6 miles from my place, I'm going!

....... see you there! Luthier Alan Miller will be there too.

The Church is a nice venue and has hosted many internationally famous musicians. 

Ungulate

@GTC, yeah would be great to meet another fretboarder,
Have emailed Will Stancer & he's sorting me a ticket.

roberty

Ah thanks for that @GTC, I see you already explained this further up. The extended range sounds amazing. It adds a meaningful dimension 

GTC

Ungulate said:

@GTC, yeah would be great to meet another fretboarder,
Have emailed Will Stancer & he's sorting me a ticket.

Great - look forward to meeting you on Saturday!