The Sound: Frank Harlow luthier, a documentary film made by Dan Simon about the legendary reso-guitar builder for Kentucky Educational Television, is now available for viewing on Amazon Prime.
Harlow has been known for his beautiful creations since the 1980s, when he began crafting instruments by hand at his small shop in Vandalia, OH. A noted recluse, Frank typically rejected opportunities to talk about himself or his guitars, and simply built them as time allowed outside of his career working for General Motors. But Simon convinced him to sit for an interview, which forms the basis for this 57 minute film.
Frank discusses what led him to started building resophonic guitars, and how he goes about constructing them. There are also comments from a number of top players who explain what it is that sets the Harlow guitars apart from the others.
Members of Amazon Prime can watch the documentary at no additional cost, and non-members can see it after paying a rental fee of $1.99. Simply type the title in to the Amazon search bar, or follow this link.
Dan Simon created this film as a passion project, having enlisted filmmaker Elijah Knuckles to travel with him to Vandalia to interview Frank. They quickly realized that there was more to the Harlow story, and have nearly completed a second project that will also cover Frank’s flat top acoustic guitars. Look for more on this early in 2020.
