Weissenborn Guitar (Style 1)This is a rare Style 1 Weissenborn Guitar (one of 2 known) with a photo of Herman Weissenborn on the label.
The Weissenborn is a hollow-neck wooden "lap" guitar designed to be played with a steel bar. It has raised strings and frets flush with the fingerboard. It is historically important because it connects Chris J. Knutsen's Hawaiian lap steel guitars and the development of the resonator guitar and subsequently electric guitars. Hermann Weissenborn lived and worked in Los Angeles making guitars from about 1914 to 1936 Weissenborn improved and perfected Knutsen's original model . It's not known exactly when he made his first Hawaiian steel guitar, but most likely between 1916 and 1917. The instrument that he is best known for is the all koa, hour glass shape with a hollow square neck. There are four styles with an array of ornamentation from simple-no trim, to deluxe with rope-patterned binding and inlay. The Weissenborn has been brought to the public's attention by David Lindley and BenHarper. ~ECV