The Steel Guitar Forum

I was shown this instrument and told it was a Knutsen. Can anyone identify?
This is my first attempt at attaching a picture. Hopefully it works.



In another section of this forum, I saw a picture on an Otwin post with this type bridge.

I'm not an expert, but I don't think so. Any markings or labels inside the guitar?

Then again, maybe. Could this be your guitar?

https://danamusic.com/instrument/knutsen-circa-1912/

I think it must be, that is a very unusual fretboard.

I will 2nd the "it's a Knutsen" opinion.
That fretboard with the scallop, or whatever it's called is found on a Knutsen model.

Bob McEvoy wrote:I was shown this instrument and told it was a Knutsen. Can anyone identify?

Try to contact Tom Noe (known to this Forum as George Noe). He wrote a book about Chris Knutsen and his instruments. He would know.

https://squareneckjournal.com/2015/02/0 ... r-tom-noe/

I have the book and I see no bridges like this one in the book. That is why I wondered if it was a Knutsen. Then I saw the german made instrument Otwin on this site with a similar bridge. That is why I wondered if it was actually a german built instrument.
I tried to send George an email through this forum but did not see how to attach a picture.

It is not my guitar and the individual wants to sell it. I saw no markings.

You can reach Tom through his Facebook account.

While the inlay are a type used by Knutsen at least a couple of times they're common shapes. The headstock is typical of a few Knutsen guitars but not others.

The fretboard extension, though, looks like no Knutsen I've ever seen and the bridge is either a replacement or IMO the guitar is not a Knutsen. The herringbone rosette also appears quite different from any Knutsen I've seen. and the binding also appears to be much wider than the plain type Knutsen normally used.

My guess is - if it *is* a Knutsen - it has a non-original fretboard, non-originalrosette and has been rebound and refinished. Some collectors might buy it out of curiosity and some players might have interest, but it IMO it has only a fraction of the value of an unmodified, original Knutsen.

“Knutsen Hawaiians: no one alike.”

Definitely inspired by, but the work and materials look a little too slick on a vintage iphone screen.

It is definitely a Knutsen. Made in Seattle around 1910.

The black fretboard with treble extension, crescent moon and star inlays, as well as the bridge with the two screws. were all common features on Knutsen mandolins in the 1910 - 1914 era. The headstock is the one that Weissenborn copied on his earliest Hawaiian guitars.

Thank you for affirming its originality.