The Steel Guitar Forum

been drooling over eharps for awhile. But didn't pull the trigger. then I just bought two within the last 48 hours for way under what they have been going for:

$425 for this one: https://reverb.com/item/6174341-alkire- ... ack-oyster

And a few minutes ago, this one for $350, no shipping costs: https://reverb.com/item/9709541-alkire- ... -mop-1950s

Both of them are really interesting, and exceptional value compared the equivalent six string valco lap steel.

The missing link between pedal steel and lap steel.

Personally I am entrenched in six string playing as come at steel from a bottleneck perspective, that also leaves me stuck in G & D tuning.

I must try and break the habit with C6th or whatever as the sound of Don helms floats my boat.

Lee

Nice acquisitions Bill. What tuning are you going to put on them?

I'll be putting the Alkire tuning on one and an extended diatonic tuning on the other

Could you give a quick education on what an eharp is?; tuning, unique features, etc?
Thanks.
Tony

At one time Eddie Alkire, originally from West Virginia, later settling in Easton PA, was a very well known hawaiian steel guitarist who put together a group that performed over 1,000 times in the early days of radio.

And inventor as well as a musician, he wanted to expand the range of the steel guitar which had morphed into multiple tunings, multiple necks, but still was not getting the respect it deserved, he thought, because of its limitations.

His invention was a 10 string lap steel (the eharp) with a 4 octave range and a tuning (the Alkire tuning) which opened up the chordal possibilities tremendously. It was marketed as a way of reducing bar movement and experts on the tuning could play 50 different chords without moving the bar. The turning itself is chromatic : C# E F F# G G# A B C# E and the string gauges are 036W 030W 028W 026W 024W 024P 022P 020P 018P 015P.

In the 40's and 50's he started a musical method and system, had licensed instructors teaching his method and it was extremely popular at the time. When pedal steel came around, his system was soon forgotten. Today only a small handful of people still play the eharp the way the inventor envisioned and the majority of players today put a different tuning on it.

there were four basic models, first one developed by epiphone and later ones developed by Valco.

Our own Roy Thomson has posted a number of pieces he has worked out for the tuning, although I don't believe he is playing them on an eharp.

Here is a video showing someone showing the capabilities of the tuning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwOLe4wteDc

And here is someone playing a diatonic tuning on the eharp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcwDldU6xU

Wow, very interesting - thanks! Looks like a handful but a great musical project. Enjoy!

Wow Bill thanks for the Alkire info!
I’ve got a 10 string Clinesmith just sitting here waiting for something.
The tuning and string gauges are hard to find.
Do you actually have some Eharp lessons or going to figure it out with your own brain?
My brain doesn’t have the theory necessary to pull it off.
I’d like to learn some tunes though

Ron, the university of illinois has a complete archive of all of eddie Alkire work. I contacted them this week about getting copies of some of the teaching material. Waiting to get a price on monday.

That’s incredible!!
I’m also interested in purchasing.
How did you find out about that? What a great find!

You can email them through the site: https://archives.library.illinois.edu/a ... rd&id=3554

You want to contact:
Scott W. Schwartz
Archivist for Music and Fine Arts and Director
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
1103 S. Sixth Street
Champaign, IL 61820

Good luck with it Bill. Glad to see you didn't settle on Dobro G as stated previously.

So much to discover I wish you the best in your Alkhire Journey. Here is the fretboard layout.

I've been through the tuning and wasn't right for me. Lots of chords and option but not ALL the common jazz voicings I wanted and scales were a nightmare plus sliding you have to be extremely careful especially when slanting cause those chromatic steps can really squeal.

The chord grips are pretty gnarly so you need to stretch just to get even half of what the E13 has but as I stated earlier its all part of the journey.

Print out the fretboard below and start your journey.

All the best.

Actually scales are pretty easy on it. If you put the tuning into John Ely's scale finder and click off "no skipping strings" you will find most scales lay out on the same fret or within 2 frets

I loved to arrange for this tuning. It's amazing.. but the right hand is crucial. So many chords but no low end. You can't beat it for melody and cutting through the band. With no band you can play chord solos. It works either way.
Link to Tenderly:

http://picosong.com/wyAxf

Hi Bill,
Also just got mine a few day ago that bought here on the forum.
The one I got is like much like the newer one you got with the White Mother Of Toilet Seat.

Unfortunately this one O got has a bad hum unless I touch the strings, not hard to fix that but some ground issue somewhere in it for sure.
The bad part is the tone. It is extremely bright to the point of being brittle even with the tone turned full on. No bass or middle to speak of.

I'm gonna have to get into it and see if I can replace the capacitor or do something else because to my ear it's just not playable as is.
I like a warm rich sounding steel.

I'd like to know when yours arrives if it also has that same tone or is there something wrong with mine? Please let me know.
Also would be curious about the difference in tone between the two models you got?
I know from Doug's youtube videos that his older one has very nice tone so I suspect mine just has some wiring problem.

Anyway, good luck with yours. I'd seen that older Gray Mother Of Toilet Seat one and thought that was a good deal.

I'll let you know Andy. If they don't work out, I already have a buyer for them.

Roy, beautiful as always.

I just saw the one you bought, yes, exactly like the one I'm getting. Hopefully I'll have better luck but if not, I know someone who wants them and can work on them if need be.

Hi Ron,
I Wanna keep mine and there is a good instrument repair shop near here where they do good electrical work very cheap.
Have a feeling maybe the hum and the lack of good tone may both be related to some wiring disconnected.

Would open it but that also requires removing the strings. No time now because I have family visiting for another week still. Will get to it soon.

There was also some glitter stuck on some frets. I knew about that from the photos. Got the glitter off but couldn't remove the glue. I'm going to have a new plastic fretboard made here as it's not too expensive to duplicate but we first have to scan it and re-draw the item.

I have some other steels to play so no hurry.
Best wishes,
Andy

Early on in my steel guitar journey, a very generous guy named Bob Schaffer (I think -can't recall exactly) who'd studied with Alkire sent me a ton of stuff he'd collected on the tuning. I don't have it any more but at the time (30 years ago), I was impressed with what you could get out of the tuning - at least on paper.

Then over the years, as I listened to EHarp players including Eddie Alike - with one exception (name eludes me), they all sounded stiff to my ear. The right hand blocking is so demanding with this approach. I quickly decided it wasn't my thing and came to accept and love the challenge and limitations of other tunings (C6th, B11, D, etc) and I actually find great satisfaction in working between the cracks of those limitations. Hope your mileage differs. Enjoy the journey.

And lastly, here's a hot-rodded E-Harp made in 1961 by a Martin employee.

Below are four videos I made playing the Epiphone eHarp, E13 tuning. I've never tried the Alkire diatonic tuning, but as I've said here many times, just looking at it on paper was enough to make me stay away. It's not a user friendly, smooth playing tuning IMO.

Old Cape Cod ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnIIWmhDMV8

Sleepy Lagoon ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GvfD93l44

Travelin' Man ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvy5ss3P4M

Honolulu Eyes ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjx-jzh9q7U

Just thinking out loud..
Eddie was born in 1907, Jerry was born in 1920,
And started Hawaiian steel lessons about 10 years later.
Much later Jerry put up the challenge that C6th tuning was never used before him.
It kinda looks like C6th/A7 is possibly a simplified version of Alkire tuning. Maybe it was easier with less strings. You could get a lot with slants, (which to me is the “magic”) and concentrate more on touch and tone. A well placed lush chord with 2-3 note slants and single string emphasis.. Feels less “stiff”.

Andy,

Maybe you are thinking of Claude Brownell who is known to have played the hell out of the Alkire tuning. Unfortunately, recordings seem scarce. I've only been able to find one recording in the SGF archives.

I'd say Roy's work with the tuning sounds great, like everything he does. But who knows. I'm a big believer in giving things a try before giving up so I'll be giving the Alkire tuning and a modified Byrd diatonic tuning shots, and if it seems impossible, move to Doug's tuning for it.

More important than the tuning is how beautiful these instruments sound, and at $350 probably one of the steals of the century.

Yes, it was Claude Brownell! Thanks. They are indeed a great deal for a quality vintage instrument.

Claude and I used to email back and forth. He did not use an Alkire Guitar. Rather a custom made Steel with an extended scale so he could tune the strings down a few tones. It was a long instrument which he sent me pics of.
I used the back neck of a Fender 2000 which had been separated from the original instrument. It has since been sold and it worked very well with the EHarp tuning.
From my archives: Maria Elena
Link:
http://picosong.com/wyKcp

Good luck Bill. Don't walk away from it until you have given it a "try". Sounds like you are well on your way.
Roy

Roy,

Is that all you playing the eharp, or is the alternating bass line a backing track? If that is you playing both the melody and alternation bass line, that is pretty amazing.