The Birth of the American 12-string Guitar

Researcher Gregg Miner proposes that the modern 12-string guitar may have evolved from early "harp-guitar" instruments rather than from Mexican double-course guitars or American factory designs as previously believed. Key to this theory is a 1896 patent by Carl E. Brown for a 10-string "harp-guitar" and a circa-1904 Rene Grunewald 12-string instrument, instruments that have been largely overlooked in the instrument's documented history.