Harp ukulele
The term harp ukulele is used to describe two different variants of the ukulele:
- an ukulele with unfretted strings extending from the body, essentially forming a miniature harp guitar.
- 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
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.