Unusual Alkire EHarp

Mark Tucker · Post by **Mark Tucker** » 12 Aug 2010 7:18 pm

An EHarp made in 1961 by a C.F. Martin employee whose son was a student of Eddie Alkire. Alkire's jaw must have dropped when the kid pulled this out of the case, but the lessons evidently didn't take--the instrument remained in untouched condition, stored for more than four decades in its standard EHarp case of the era. The employee had started working at the Martin factory just after WW II, learning to execute the appointments of the top-of-the-line prewar Martins, the 45's, though no such abalone-trimmed instruments were being made by Martin for about the first 25 years he worked there. This was his own application of the Martin design sense and his skills to a steel--an "E-45." Solid Honduras mahogany body overlaid with a thin layer of spruce to make it look like a Martin flat-top, but everything was fastened solidly into the mahogany for sustain. Brazilian rosewood headstock overlay, fingerboard, and handrest. Hardware all evidently procured direct from Valco except for the Grover Rotomatic machines then being used on Martin guitars. Some ride.

J. Wilson · Post by **J. Wilson** » 12 Aug 2010 7:28 pm

WOW

Incredible!! What an outstanding looking lap steel!! (sorry... E-Harp) Any sound samples?

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 12 Aug 2010 7:40 pm

Amazing!

Valco meets Martin! What a stunning instrument, and in mint condition. Mark, do you own this guitar?

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 12 Aug 2010 8:39 pm

Sweet

Travis Hillis · Post by **Travis Hillis** » 12 Aug 2010 8:44 pm

Holy crap thats nice!!!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 13 Aug 2010 3:01 am

That's beyond awesome. What a find!

Stan Schober · Post by **Stan Schober** » 13 Aug 2010 5:54 am

HoRee Moses !!!

As my Grandpa used to say, "That's a keeper !!"

Peter Lindelauf · Post by **Peter Lindelauf** » 13 Aug 2010 9:26 am

After buying six guitars in the past year--most of them 1950s classics--thought I was pretty well done with the guitar envy. Nope. What a beauty. Kind of a poignant father/son story, too. When I was teaching myself to play guitar and sing forty years ago, my dad used to knock on my bedroom door and offer me an Aspirin. I stuck with it all the same.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 13 Aug 2010 9:57 am

Mark, THANK.YOU.FOR.SHARING!

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 13 Aug 2010 10:44 am

WHOA!!!

Joseph Meditz · Post by **Joseph Meditz** » 13 Aug 2010 11:14 am

Dig that three octave fret board shaped something like the state of Tennessee.

Ryan Barwin · Post by **Ryan Barwin** » 13 Aug 2010 11:17 am

Wow, cool

Mark Lavelle · Post by **Mark Lavelle** » 13 Aug 2010 3:36 pm

+1 on the WOWs - a real beauty

David Eastwood · Post by **David Eastwood** » 13 Aug 2010 3:59 pm

What a beautiful piece of work - captures the Martin aesthetic perfectly!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 13 Aug 2010 6:48 pm

Dig that three octave fret board shaped something like the state of Tennessee.

Yeah, that's a cool deco design. Every version of the Eharp (at were at least three versions) had that style of fretboard. The Valco Eharp had a lucite fretboard.

The earlier version (built by Epiphone) had a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, much like this custom one.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 14 Aug 2010 9:40 am

Glenn Uhler · Post by **Glenn Uhler** » 5 Feb 2011 7:16 pm

I started Eharp lessons from Mr. Alkire in July of 1960. I was also raised about 5 miles from the Martin factory, but I never saw that masterpiece before. It almost sounds like you are describing Mike Longworth's career and something he would have built.

Geoff Cline · Post by **Geoff Cline** » 6 Feb 2011 8:20 am

OK, without question, the most beautiful and amazing lap steel I've ever seen. AND, if it sounds half as good as it looks, it could be the best sounding guitar too!

Incredible doesn't begin to get close. Whoever owns/plays it is a very lucky person.

Mark Tucker · Post by **Mark Tucker** » 6 Feb 2011 3:28 pm

Thanks for your kind comments, Geoff. The fellow who made this eye-popping guitar, long retired from Martin, was so pleased to hear that folks on the Forum appreciate what he achieved in making this this ultra-deluxe Eharp. He is a wonderfully modest man, but I think he is pretty proud of this instrument, and rightly so! Martin really set a high standard for precision and elegance in build and binding work, and the maker of this one-off steel was a master with outstanding skills and taste. In retirement he has stayed very busy as a seriously good prizewinning pie baker on a commercial scale, shoo-fly a specialty.

Glenn Uhler · Post by **Glenn Uhler** » 6 Feb 2011 3:39 pm

Now I definitely know who built the Eharp. Frank refretted a Martin round-back mandolin for me and he was a friend of my fathers. Last time I was in Nazareth, I heard that he had sold the pie business.