Translation into English
"The Dart (Bowl Back slide) This is
a new slide guitar made for Ben Harper (in 2001).
'He wanted an instrument that would have it's own sound
and it's own look. It's a
teardrop shape with a vaulted back, hollow
up to the head in the
Hawaiian style.' In May 2003 David Dart designed
another guitar for Ben.
'David Dart is one of the last guys who can
build a curved back from
strips of wood.' For the anecdote, he began
taking guitar lessons from
Ben's grandmother Dorothy Chase when he was
10 years old.
The strips run from the hollow neck
all the way to the bottom bout, and he used a cello top
made
of old German spruce. (quoting Harper), 'This Dart is built so well that it can take
extra-heavy strings,
gauged .016-.058. I did three takes of, When It’s
Good, and by the time I
finished the last one, I had a blister the
size of a walnut on my thumb.' "
"(Hawaiian Slide) Dart adds he do not
make copies of Weissenborn models, 'My Hawaiian
Guitar is not a copy of a Weissenborn. There
were numerous brands of
Hawaiian Slide Guitars in the 1930's and
Weissenborn was only one of
them, not the only one.'
