I began playing the steel guitar in 1956 when I was eight years old. I started out with a used 6-string Mastertone which was made by Gibson in 1939. My parents bought me this 10-string Alkire Eharp in about 1960. It is an Eharp Custom. The differences between this and the normal Eharp are: four legs instead of three, two pickups, natural finish intead of pearloid, and the logo on the front. Eharp was a special tuning which allowed for many of the chords available on a E9 neck with pedals, but without the need for pedals. I still play both the Gibson Mastertone and the Eharp with the band Sky Blue. I also play a Dobro and a National Tricone. See Wikipedia. I also play a very modern Emmons D-10 Lagrande III pedal steel guitar. Jim Mathis |
