The forgotten Plectrum Archtop Player from the 1930s, Ken Harvey

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, I'd never heard him play before today...he won't be many people's favourite, but he could certainly play. He was more renowned for Plectrum Banjo playing - Gibson made his own model. This video displays his famous sustain sound on the guitar, complete with wide vibrato, but it gets cut off too soon, and then the banjo storms in with some awful music. I like the plectrum banjo for some things, but not this. But the three minutes of guitar playing is maybe worth hearing.

[AllanAllen]

I even liked the banjo parts.

[Rob MacKillop]

Ha, Allan, that’s hard core!

[Rob MacKillop]

Oh, please, its tiresome to see the same jokes every time a banjo is mentioned. Sorry, Alan, but it does get tiresome. I’m guilty too, though, so let’s have an agreement to not go there again.

This thread is about this guy’s acoustic archtop playing, which I think is amazing.

[A. Kingstone]

Fixed.

[Rob MacKillop]

Good man.

[AllanAllen]

How could he play with vibrato like that in 1937? Surely whammy bars weren’t around yet.

[Rob MacKillop]

Indeed. He might have been using thin banjo strings, not telegraph-wire guitar strings. It was his ‘thing’, and he was famed for it.

[AllanAllen]

Indeed. He might have been using thin banjo strings, not telegraph-wire guitar strings. It was his ‘thing’, and he was famed for it.

It’s incredible, thanks for sharing it

[StringNavigator]

Ken Harvey with EPB.

The Great Ken Harvey - Plectrum Banjo. 1937. 1/3 - YouTube
Using [DGBD] instead of [CGDB].

Harvey Steffel
b. Milwaukee, Wis, 1907
d. Milwaukee, Wis, 1952

U.S.A.
1930 performing in NYC, 1934 Rudy Vallee radio show, then a performing career in Europe

Europe
Enthusiastic reception in London, Dorchester Hotel, BBC’s earliest TV in late 1930s
Toured Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands until disrupted by WWII, returned to Milwaukee, then played USO shows.

Illness
While playing in Oslo, 1948, stricken with MS. Two years of hospital in Norway and two more in NY, bankrupted, returned to Milwaukee, died December 2, 1952.

First EPB Player
An endorsing artist in prewar Gibson catalogs, playing an EPB (electric plectrum banjo). A 1938 article in Etude noted that “...is the first one to use an electric banjo in his concerts...”

Description, Photos & More

Gibson PB-12 Special Mastertone #770-1, the "Ken Harvey" - Earnest Banjo
Gibson’s shipping ledgers show that in 1938, a shipment delivered to Ken Harvey: EH-150 lap steel and amp, three ukuleles, unspecified “supplies”, and a PB-12 Spl banjo. The wood is maple with an opaque black finish and the resonator binding is chrome-plated metal rather than the standard ivoroid. All hardware is chrome-plated and the radiused fingerboard, which is ebony rather than the typical rosewood, is inlaid with plain block inlays. The bound peghead lacks any mother-of-pearl inlay but the peghead overlay is inscribed “Gibson / Ken Harvey / Special”. The twenty-hole “shiny face” flathead tone ring is the same as that found in other top-tension Mastertones; adjustable armrest mount, but the armrest itself is the classic Gibson shape rather than the narrower armrest with squared-off ends normally seen on top-tension models.

Custom Order
The visually striking appearance of Ken Harvey’s custom top-tension Mastertone was likely designed to complement his formal evening wear.

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[Mark M.]

Milwaukee had a rich tradition of stringed instrument groups in the early to mid 20th Century. Nice to see some of it represented here.