The Steel Guitar Forum

There's a very cool physical and online exhibit at The University of Illinois. It's called
Historic Steel Guitars - America's Hawaiian Imaginations. It features some very interesting and historic steel guitars. Paul Warnik and I were involved in donating instruments to the museum. We had acquired some of Letritia Kandle's instruments. There is an exhibit about Eddie Alkire. With travel being difficult, the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music has created an online tour. It's really great that people we knew personally(Letritia) are being honored. It's also important to note that if not for Paul Warnik being a tireless researcher and an expert on many aspects of steel guitar history, Letritia Kandle would not have been rediscovered. Here's the link for the online exhibit tour...
Enjoy!
https://hawaiiexhibit.web.illinois.edu/

Is this not the coolest? Letritia Kandle - circa 1937 with The Grand Letar

Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing.

Very Nice! Is this just a temporary website and physical display from the University of Illinois, or do they plan on keeping it long term?

Thanks T.C.!

Some background on Letricia:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtop ... highlight=

Thanks TC. Super Bowl of history.

Thanks! Fascinating steel guitar history.

Wow, this is great! Thanks.

As some of you know, my facebook, youtube, and soon to be website are dedicated solely to Eddie Alkire and the eharp. I just got a nice email from Dick Alkire, Eddie's son, who has kindly given me permission to use some of the hundreds of pages of Alkire lessons and steel guitar arrangements and compositions in my possession on my various channels dedicated to promoting and teaching the eharp tuning, which I am very thankful for. My plan is to eventually record all the Alkire compositions used in his Step Lessons. I'm currently working on his 1936 composition Ka Pua O Hawaii and hope to post both the sheet music and my performance of the piece soon as it is performance ready.

The fantastic online exhibit contains a number of Eddie's recordings. Here are some more from two of his three albums https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... D-X_1ntEpz

These tracks were originally recorded with Dick playing piano when he was a teenager and Eddie's other son on bass. The were recorded for a weekly slot after the evening news on a local Easton, PA radio station. They then were circulated as demo's for the Eharp teachers to play for potential students and eventually ended up as LP's.

Hi T.C.

Paul Warnik and yourself deserve your own Plaque of Appreciation for your tireless efforts and donation of instruments associated with this unique exhibit dedicated to the instrument we all love.

If my memory serves me correctly, during the restoration process of The Grand Letar, it was exhibited at one of Scotty's St L Conventions. Considering its weight, I hope you and Paul didn't hurt yourselves!

Happy and Healthy New Year to You and Yours -

Best regards
Ron Funk

Paul Warnik also displayed the Grand Letar at the HSGA Convention one year in Joliet IL. I don't remember what year but it was before 2013,-the last year of HSGA Conventions in Joliet.
Wally Pfeifer