Duane Noble 2013 Harp Ukulele
Brand new model - Exquisite and beyond adorable!
SOLD!

Can a plucked stringed instrument ever be "too cute"?

The answer is, of course, "No." 

Actually, you're probably viewing these photos and thinking "handsome," "gorgeous," "exquisite aesthetics," "hand-built perfection," etc. – right?

Admit it – at first glance, you thought it was another Noble harp guitar, didn't you?!  In fact, it shares all the trademark features of Duane's harp guitars: impeccable detailing, lustrous mirror finish, segmented rosettes, even the arm bevel!

But then one notices the 4 + 4 configuration rather than the usual 6 + 6...

Yes, it is the debut of the new Duane Noble harp ukulele!  Technically, it made its debut just over a week ago at the 2013 Healdsburg Guitar Festival, where it was a huge hit.  I didn't make it there, and had been begging Duane to send me one just as soon as he could.  He did not disappoint.  Nor does the instrument.

I had to take a "size comparison" photo for this listing, because to understand just how irresistible it truly is, one must have it hand (and good luck prying it out of mine...). 

That's when the size hits you.  It looks like a miniature harp guitar, but it feels and plays like a high end tenor uke (at less than half the price of a comparable Noble HG, btw). Duane did a great job in scaling down his familiar and popular harp guitar design.  The choice of four sub-basses (tuned to whatever you like) is musically and aesthetically optimum for a harp-uke, in my humble opinion. Duane uses the same string spacing as a Martin tenor.  It has a couple subtle "uke-specific" details, like the tiny stripe inlays in the fingerboard and near the bevel.

And tone, tone, tone!  I'm not a uke fanatic, but know that the players can have different tastes.  After hearing raves of the aNueNue harp uke, I got a couple to sell and had to string it with Aquila nylgut before I could begin to appreciate it.  Don't get me wrong - those are very nice instruments, but my practice Kala tenor uke sounds better to me.  If you're looking for either of those tonalities, this may not be for you (it is currently strung with Aquilas also; Duane's choice was the same as mine, it turned out).  It's not that it sounds three to four times as good as those instruments (to me, it does), but that it sounds, well, different.  It is, above all, dark.  In a rich, loud, extremely responsive bouncy, "round" way.  Not brittle or bright, nor necessarily "sweet," it has what we look for in a steel-string harp guitar: gorgeous "depth of tone" (in this case, the smaller scale, nylon-string equivalent).  I've never remotely heard it's equivalent in all the ukes I've come across.

It comes with a heavy duty custom gig bag Colorado Case Co.

If ever there was a "be the first on your block!" instrument to tempt harp guitar and ukulele players both, this is it!

– Gregg "Sir Gregory" Miner

Specifications: 

• Cedar top
• Indian rosewood back, sides, binding & armrest bevel
• Ebony headplates, fingerboard & bridge 
• Cocobolo fb inlay, top purfling & segmented rosettes
• Mahogany/maple/rosewood neck, black/white side & back purfling lines
• Clear pickguard
• Abalone side dot markers
• Four sub-bass strings
• Grover 14:1 mini tuners
• 17" scale
• 1-11/32"nut width
• Dimensions: 9-7/8" lower bout, 3-1/16" depth at tail block, 26-1/2" total length
• Colorado Case gig bag
• Price: $3500 SOLD

CDs & DVDs by Stephen Bennett, John Doan, Muriel Anderson, Andy McKee, Stacy Hobbs, Tom Shinness, Dan LaVoie, James Kline, Larry Berwald, Bill Dutcher, Gregg Miner, Pasquale Taraffo
To learn more about harp guitars, please visit Harpguitars.net
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