GoKawiilTo re-cap: Evolution and Rise of the American 12-String Guitar
as postulated by Gregg Miner Feb 8, 1896: Carl E. Brown, a musical instrument inventor, submits a patent for a new 10-string guitar he dubs “the Harp-Guitar.” It has a pear-shaped body; the 4 low courses are strung in octaves, while the 2 high strings are single. There is a lever to grab the 4 high extra strings and move them out of playing position. He already has a prototype hanging in a local music store.
Sep 22, 1896: The patent is granted.
Fall of 1896: Brown engages two different firms to build it – the Hamilton Gordon Company and the Rene Grunewald Company. Gordon will make theirs in the shape of the patent design; Grunewald will make the body with a traditional guitar shape. Each is called “The Harp-Guitar,” licensed and protected under Brown’s patent.
1896-to-1899: In The Music Trade Review, Brown’s invention is mentioned 3 times, the Gordon version is shown once, and the Grunewald is featured at least 6 times.
c.1900-1901: Sometime between late 1898 and late 1902, Grunewald has doubled the two remaining high strings, creating a production 12-string guitar, still called “The Harp-Guitar,” and possibly still under the original Brown patent ( this still remains unanswered ). During this same period (by the end of December, 1900), Holzapfel & Beitel have begun building similar (though larger-bodied) 12-string guitars. They may have gotten the idea from first building double-course harp guitars . Meanwhile, C. Bruno & Sons has also introduced a 12-strings-on-the-neck harp guitar, though not a simple, single-neck 12-string. In addition, Bohmann builds a custom 10-strings-on-the-neck harp guitar by c.1900, and possibly as early as c.1895. Bruno also built at least one 10-strings-on-the-neck harp guitar seemingly patterned after Grunewald’s 10-string headstock design. (The Wurlitzer Company actually built the only instrument truly representing the patent, but it can't be dated).
The 12-string Grunewald harp guitar continues to be advertised (in The Cadenza ) and marketed through at least 1904. Meanwhile, Joseph Behee in Kansas had introduced his 12-string lyre guitars.
This continual visibility of the Grunewald instrument (first 10-, then 12-string version), through both The Music Trade Review and The Cadenza (the main “business” and “consumer” periodicals, respectively) feeds the awareness and interest of both musicians/customers and other manufacturers.
Independent of the Brown/Grunewald double-course “harp-guitars in name only,” builders of true harp guitars incorporate doubled courses in their extravagant creations ( and perhaps only later transitioning this stringing over to single-neck guitars).
Holzapfel’s instruments and potential Italian “one-offs” inspire inspire the eventual Oscar Schmidt 12-strings, while Lyon & Healy (and others) make instruments like the parlor-size Grunewald but eschew the old “harp-guitar” naming gimmick, taking 10 and 12 strings on the neck into the mainstream. The American 12-string guitar is established! Early American 12-String Guitar Timeline
... continue reading