Special Projects

We occasionally get involved with projects not related to our primary guitar lineup. This page highlights examples of special projects we've recently taken on.

Emmylou Harris' "Mini-Harp" Guitar

This past fall, singer Emmylou Harris ordered a special and unique instrument with an extended, unfretted, low "A" string. EmmyLou does a number of tunes in open A with the low A used as a pedal tone. Tuning down a standard scale length that far creates a lot of buzz and rattle and she didn't like the feel of a heavier gauge string. What Maple Byrne (EmmyLou's guitar tech of 25 years) and Julius decided on was to extend the sixth string to a 27" scale length. This worked out so well that Emmy has ordered a second Borges Mini-Harp that'll be left in B-flat tuning.

	Emmylou Harris' Mini-Harp Guitar -- Headstock and Nut detail
	The dog legged pyramid bridge is a tip of the hat to the Martin Harp guitars of the early 1900's. It also added about 1/8" to the string length.
	Bridge area detail
	The Mini-Harp Guitar in the capable hands of artist Frank Corso. Frank is responsible for creating the logo art for the Newport Guitar Festival.