The term harp ukulele is used to describe two different variants of the ukulele

Ukulele

The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....

:

• an ukulele with unfretted strings extending from the body, essentially forming a miniature harp guitar
  Harp guitar
  ]The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name “harp-guitar” over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular...
  
  
• an ukulele with an "arm" extending from the upper bout, often hollow to increase the volume of the sound chamber, which visually resembles a harp guitar but does not support added strings.

History

The harp ukulele appeared in the 1910s, when the harp guitar was experiencing some popularity, and the ukulele had just begun to experience nationwide popularity in the United States due to its use at the Panama Pacific International Exposition

Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery...

of 1915.

After the popularity of both the harp guitar and ukulele faded, the harp ukulele lost what little market share it had. However, in the late 20th century various luthiers returned to experimenting with the harp ukulele design, both the string-less extended-bout type, as well as the added-strings true harp type.

Late 20th Century harp ukulele luthiers

• Thomas Emmett Owen (Hawaii, USA)
• Makoto Tsuruta (Japan)
• Michael Dunn (Canada)

External links

• Gregg Miner Harp Ukuleles: What On Earth Were They Thinking? Ukulele Occasional, 2004.