Gibson Harp Guitar

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There was a time when the 6 string guitar did not rule the world. I know, it sounds weird, but it’s true.

And while it looks strange today, the Gibson harp guitar was actually designed to solve a problem. You see…

In the early 1900s guitarists were forced to play music that was, quite honestly, better suited to the piano or wind instruments. Back then, semi-classical music was all the rage, and Tin Pan Alley songs ruled the day. The guitar as we know it had only a small role, but the music that was popular was often played in keys other than the guitar-friendly E and A.

Gibson attempted to solve this problem by including bass strings on this strange guitar.

This guitar never really reached it’s potential because it was difficult for guitarists to learn to play, and because the thing is massive. It was a good idea that never really took off because of the learning curve and the size of it.

[I have enough trouble lugging a couple Les Paul guitars to the gig, let alone this giant thing... of course, if I owned a Harp Guitar today I sure as h3ll wouldn't be gigging with it!]

A bit of a woodworking miracle, the harp guitar has 10 bass strings on one neck in addition to the standard 6 guitar strings on the second neck. As you can see in the video above, this is really handy for doing a little self accompanying bassline.

Truss rod? Nope, how about an actual metal anchor that pulls the headstock towards the body and balances the tension of the strings. Talk about old school…

NOTE: It’s tradition here on MyGuitarGuide.com to write a review of every guitar after I play it, but I’m sorry to say I have not yet had the privilege of playing the Harp Guitar for myself. If you own the Harp guitar and would like to write a complete review to be posted on this site, please send me a message through our contact us page, we would be honored to have it on MyGuitarGuide.com!

The Harp guitar certainly is an oddity in the guitar world, and is understandably extremely difficult to find these days. Expect to pay well over $5,000 if you’re looking to purchase one.

Looking to dive deeper? Check out George Gruhn’s page on the Gibson Harp guitar… George is a vintage guitar icon and this is a great resource with some cool pictures.

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