No Weissenborn in Hawaii

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Weissenborn Players

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This group is dedicated to the Weissenborn players around the world.

179 Members, Created 2/15/2011 -

Administrators: Grizz (owner)

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From Karl Rabe on 8/8/2017 9:21:36 AM

Hi everybody,

This is a question to you super knowledgeable Weissenborn specialists:

Recently there was a TV-show in Bavarian (!) TV where they had a German luthier as guest. The host kept emphasizing that the Weissenborn is a Hawaiian instrument and that Hawaiian music would be played on it.

I found that totally misleading and it made me wonder. I cannot remember one single historic photo of the old Hawaiian steel guitar heroes where one would hold a Weissenborn. Neither can I remember audio tracks with Hawaiian Weissenborn - old or new – although admittedly it would be hard to tell standard guitar from Weissenborn on old recordings. Then I went through the complete Troutman and Ruymar books. Again not one single picture with a musician holding a Weissenborn. They all played what we all know: first standard guitars on their laps, then Tricones and later electric guitars. NO Weissenborns.

Also – if you browse through Youtube - in contemporary music no Hawaiian and hardly any Jazz music on Weissenborns. Only Blues, Rock, Singer/Songwriter and some Folk.

That leads me to the conclusion that the Hawaiians did not and do not like to play Weissenborns. If that’s correct, then why is this so?

Please correct me if I’m wrong. Is there evidence of Hawaiian Weissenborn anywhere (except maybe some advertising of luthiers…) ?

Thanks

3 Comments
	Slidennis says: 8/8/2017 1:45:12 PM So just what kind of a fight are you trying to start in the Weissenborn enthusiasts group here? Are you Trolling? Your observations are not wrong but they may also not be completely right either. The H Weissenborn guitars were derived from Knutsen's guitars (his unique style), both of those were influenced to produce these guitars by the music heard at the Pan Pacific Exhibition of 1914 in San Francisco. The form is apparently a mainland development. The music played on them here on the mainland was Hawaiian in origin and influence. Time has passed, a whole century. The instrument has made it back to the islands where it is now embraced, made and played by islanders. To say that "Hawaiians did not and do not like to play Weissenborns" is IMO a false conclusion. But what do I know.
	Karl Rabe says: 8/9/2017 10:48:40 AM Slidennis, thanks for taking your time for a reply. I take your first two sentences as subtle irony, otherwise it would be insulting. But I was hoping for some serious answers. Maybe I did not express myself clear enough. The question is not who invented the instrument when and where. That has been reported many times. I try to put it differently: Why do I not find any signs of Hawaiians actually playing a Weissenborn, but many, many with other guitars? Maybe someone else does have an idea beyond generalization. I’d really like to know.
	Bradskey says: 8/22/2017 7:47:27 AM From reading the the Noe/Most book on Knutsen I get the impression that he did in fact base his design somewhat on some primordial authentic Hawaiian squareneck guitar designs, although examples are not given. Ultimately it seems that the Knutsen/Weissenborn hollowneck and Kona guitars were a "continental" design sold primarily to North American students and performers caught up in the Hawaiian music craze. At the time the book was written many of the original guitars had been popping up in the immediate areas where Knutsen and later Weissenborn worked: Washington and LA. But one definitely can play Hawaiian music on these guitars, as that's what the majority of the original buyers were trying to do with them.
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