darryl martin innovation and the development of the modern six-string guitar

8/10/2019 Darryl Martin Innovation and the Development of the Modern Six-String Guitar

1/25

Innovation and the Development of the Modern Six-String GuitarAuthor(s): Darryl MartinSource: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 51 (Jul., 1998), pp. 86-109Published by: Galpin SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842762.

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2/25

DARRYL

MARTIN

Innovation

n d

t h e

Development

t h e o d e r n

Six string

u i t a r

INTRODUCTION

ALITTLE

over 100

years ago,

Orville Gibson

-

a

violin,

mandolin and

guitar

maker

in

Kalamazoo,

Michigan

-

made a

development

to the

six

string guitar

which is seen

by many

writers as

defining

the

difference

between the

guitar

used

in

serious 'art'

music on

the

one

hand,

and

'folk'

music

on the other. This

adaptation

was the

use of

steel

strings

on

an

instrument

specifically designed

to take

the

extra tension

in

place

of the

otherwise

universal

gut.

This was

not the first occasion that steel

strings

had been

used on

members of the guitar and lute family. In the late sixteenth and

seventeenth

centuries the bandora

and

orpharion

were both

wire

strung,

and

frequently

played

music

composed

for the

gut-strung

lute. Metal

strings

were also used on

the cittern

and

other members

of that

family

-

the

Neapolitan

mandolin,

and

the

chitarra battente.

A

similar

approach

to

that

of Gibson can

be found

in

several

battentes

which have

been

converted from

gut-strung

baroque guitars.

It

was not Gibson's

intention to

design

an

instrument

suitable

for folk

or

light

music. Gibson

designed

his

guitar

to be

a member

of

the

group

of

instruments

playing

together

as mandolin

orchestras,

needing

the

steel

strings

to

help

blend

the

sound,

and to

provide

greater

volume. This

paper

will discuss

how the

European

makers

of

gut

(and

later

nylon)

strung

instruments,

and

the American makers have

independently

progressed

the

design

of their

instruments

throughout

the late-

nineteenth

and twentieth

centuries

to

the

present

day

where the

two

traditions

are

regaining

closer ties.

THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY

EUROPEAN

GUITAR

The

modern

guitar

with

six

single

strings

developed

in

the last

quarter

of

the

eighteenth

century, replacing

the

five-course

(pairs

of

strings)

baroque guitar.

In the

early part

of

the

nineteenth

century

the instrument

was

being

made

throughout

Europe,

with established

schools

in

London,

86

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3/25

Paris, Vienna,

and also

in

Italy, Germany

and

Spain.

The

guitar

had

a

great popularity,

reflected in the

publication

of

a

great

deal of

music

for

the

instrument.

The

major

virtuosi of the instrument

had

widespread

reputations

and

often travelled to

perform

in

the

major

cities of

Europe.

A number of these

performers

have left

tutors,

giving

modern scholars

information

about their

playing techniques,

and due

to

the

difficult nature of

guitar playing

technique,

it

is these

performers

who have also left the

majority

of

the

guitar

music

of

the

period.

The

instruments of the time are

generally

smaller than

the

classical

guitar

of

today;

the

string

length

generally

measuring

about 630

mm,1

though

standard

pitch2 examples

can be

found

with

string

lengths

ranging from 605-10 mm3 to 650 mm.4 The body shapes tended to

follow

relatively

similar

proportions,

but the end of

the

eighteenth

and

beginning

of the

nineteenth centuries saw the first

major

innovation

since the

standardisation

of six

single strings,

with the

introduction

of

'fan

barring'

under

the lower half

of the soundboard

and the

bridge.

This

barring

arrangement

first

originated

in

Spain,

in the

last two

decades

of

the

eighteenth century,

and

appears

in

instruments of

makers

such as

Pages

and

Benedid,

both

working

in

Cadiz.

In

about

1819 Louis

Panormo

began

to use a similar

barring arrangement

in his

guitars built in London [see

Fig.

1].

Panormo's label makes reference to

this

barring,

referring

to the

instruments as

'The

only guitars

built

in

the

Spanish style'.

Some of the

credit for the

use of this

innovation

in

his

instruments

may

belong

to

the

celebrated Catalan

born

virtuoso

Fernando Sor. Panormo

also used a

raised

fingerboard,

rather

than the

flush

fingerboard

found

commonly

on

other instruments

of the

period.

Elsewhere

in

Europe,

the

guitar

retained

the

lateral

cross

barring

that had

been

developed centuries before and used in the lute and

baroque

guitar.

In

this

barring

three or four

bars are

placed

at

right

angles

to

the

soundboard

grain,

often with

the bar

above the

bridge

set

at an

angle.

This

gives

a

larger

vibrating

area

to the bass

side

[see

Fig.

2].

1

For

example

the

standard

nstruments rom the

Lacote

(Paris)

and Panormo

(London)

workshops.

2

This is

not to

imply

that

there was

a constant

pitch

standard

hroughout

Europethat allguitarsweretunedto, butrather efers o instrumentswhich were

not built as

specific

high

pitch

instruments uch as

Terz

guitars,

which

aretuned a

minor

third

high

(to

be

played

n

duets

with

standard

models).

3

The

'Legnani'

model instruments

built

by

Staufer

n

Vienna

(see

the

Galpin

Society

Made

for

Music

Exhibition

Catalogue

(London,

1986),

and 1822

(EUCHMI,

No.770).

4

Guitars

by

Gennaro

Fabricatore,

Naples,

1818

(see

the

Galpin Society

Made

for

Music

Exhibition

Catalogue,

No.29),

and 1822

(EUCHMI,

No.770).

87



4/25

a

FIG. I

Panormo,

UCHMI

No. 2014

k z z D

FIG.2

Lac3te,

UCHMI

No. 2521

Note: All illustrations re drawn rom the

top

of the

soundboard,

he

soundboard

drawnas

if it

were

transparent,

he

bass

strings

are therefore o the left-handside.

In both of these

types

of

designs

the width acrossthe lower bout

is

approximately

12 ,5

it was

not until

shortly

after

1850 that the next

major

step originated,

with the

guitar

as

designed

by

Antonio

Torres,

which forms the

basis,

with little

alteration,

for most

of

the classical

guitarsbeing

made

to

this

day.6

Torres

used a

650

mm

string ength,

and

larger

body

dimensions,

the width across he lower bout

being

close to

14 [see Fig. 3]. The body was also made deeper. The fan barring

covered

all of the lower area of the

soundboard,

rather than

being

concentrated

near the centre line

as occurs

in the

instruments

of

Panormo.

In

addition to these

large

concert

guitars,

which have been

used almost

without

exception,

and little

variation,

for all

concert

classical

guitars

built to the middle of the twentieth

century,

Torres

also

built smaller

guitars, ypical

of

the earlier nstruments f the

century

with

5The

lower bout

measurement is

commonly

used

as a reference when

discussing

he size of

a

guitar

as a

simple comparative

device

when

referring

o

different

models.

Generally

he maxim

'bigger

s best'

(within reason)

applies

n

the

opinion

of both

makers

and

players.

Since

American

guitar

makers

nvariably

quote

lower bout measurements

n

inches,

especially

n

publicity,

I shall follow

the same convention.

6

See

Jose

Romanillos: Antonio de Torres.GuitarMaker His

Life

& Work

(Shaftesbury,

987),

Part

1,

Chapter

4.

88



5/25

string lengths

of

approximately

605

mm,

and

friction

pegs

rather

than

modern

style

guitar

geared

tuners.7

FIG.

3.

Torres

THE

NINETEENTH-CENTURY

AMERICAN

GUITAR

In

the

1830s,

Christian

Friedrich

Martin,

who

had worked

as a

foreman

in

the

Viennese

workshop

of

Johan

Georg

Staufer,

left

Europe

for

America.

Much of

Staufer's

eputation

oday

is

due to his

famed

worker;

as well

as

one of

his

inventions,

the

arpeggione8

a bowed

guitar

-

an

instrument most

notable

for

a famous

sonata by Schubert, nowadays

commonly

played

on

the

viola.

Many

features

which can

be

found on

the

guitars

of

today

-

the

floating ingerboard

bove

the

soundboard,9

he

bolt-on

adjustable

neck,10

and the

six-on-a-side

tuners11

were

all

developed

and used on

Staufer'snstruments,

most

notably

on

the

Luigi

7

The

use

of friction

pegs

rather han

tuners

also

occurs

on

some

of

Torres'

larger guitars

as

well,

suggesting

their use

was

strictly

according

to

financial

considerations.For full

details

about the

instruments

built

by

Torres,

and his

designandworkingmethods,see Romanillos:Antoniode Torres. he secondpart

of this

book

dealswith

all

aspects

of

the

instruments

made

by

Torres.

8

A

surviving

arpeggione

s

now in the

Musikinstrumenten

Museum,

Berlin.

9

Found

n

almostall

archtopguitars

built this

century.

This

very

invention

was

used on

the

(in)famous

'tilt-neck'

Fender

Stratocaster

uitars

n

the

1970s.

11

Found n the

instruments f

Paul

Bigsby,

and

particularly

hose of

the

Fender

Company.

89



6/25

Legnani

model.12

Legnani

was a famous

guitar

virtuoso of the

early

nineteenth

century,

and

this model is an

early example

of

'Celebrity

advertising'.13

Another

pupil

of

Staufer

-

Johann

Schertzer

-

has left

surviving

10

string guitars,

with 4

sub-bass

strings going

from the

bridge

to a headstock

(attached

between a column from the

guitar body

and the

standard

peghead).

This

design

possibly

formed the

concept

basis

of the

Gibson

company's much-promoted

Harp

Guitar

in

the first

quarter

of

the twentieth

century.

Martin worked for

Staufer,

probably

during

the

early

1820s,

leaving

in

1825 to return to his home

town

of

Markneukirchen

by

1826,

when he

was named

in

a

legal dispute

with members of

the violin-makers

guild.14

As an

eventual result

of

this

dispute

Martin,

and a number of other

guitar

makers from the town, moved to the United States. Martin arrived in

1833,

setting up

a

shop

in

New York

City.

Martin's

earliest instruments were

essentially

identical to the

instruments he had been

building

in

Staufer's

workshop,

and

featuring

many

of

the innovations first

developed by

Staufer

-

the

bolt-on

adjustable

neck,

floating

fingerboard,

and six-on-a-side tuners

are

all

found on

early

Martin

instruments.15s

Many

of his earliest

American

made

guitars

have a

distinctive

decoration,

using inlayed

semi-circles

of

mother-of-pearl

and abalone around the soundhole

and

edge

of the

soundboard. On his most elaborate

examples

he used ivory for the

bridge, fingerboard

and

head.16

12

See

the

Galpin

Society

Made

or

MusicExhibition

Catalogue,

No.31,

for a

photograph

of

a

Legnani

model

Staufer

uitar.

13

It is

not, however,

the

only

example

of it. Fernando

Sor,

the Catalan

guitarist iving

in

Parishas

signed

a

number

of

guitars

by

Rene Lac6te

examples

now survive

in

the

Edinburgh University

Collection

of Historic

Musical

Instruments,

Cat.

No.2521;

and in

privateownership

(exhibited

at the London

Early

MusicInstrumentMakers

Exhibition,

1991).

Soralso lent his name to the

instruments

of

Louis

Panormo of London.

However,

in neither

case is the

instrument

known,

then

or

now,

as

a

'Sor

model'.

14

This,

and further information about the

early

life

of

C.

E Martin

comes

from

George

Gruhn

and Walter

Carter;

AcousticGuitarsand

Other Fretted

Instruments

a

Photographicistory

San

Francisco,

1993);

and Walter

Carter;The

Martin

Book

London,

1995).

15

The constructionmethods were

probably

essentially

he same as

well.

This

seems to have been

overlooked

by

modern researchers

who are

tracing

constructionevidencein earlynineteenth-centuryguitars.The Martincompany

is still

in

family ownership

and has sufferedno

major upheavals

or

workshop

disasters.

Therefore,

much

evidence

concerning

original

construction

methods

probably

very

similar o those used

by

the

company

oday

is

still

available.

16

The finest collection of

surviving

Staufer-Martin

uitars belongs

to the

American collector

Scott

Chinery.

A

number of these instruments

have

been

photographed

and

published

n

Vintage

Guitar

Gallery, anuary

1995

(including

a

feature

on the

collector),

andJuly

1995.

90



7/25

In

1839 Martin moved

from

New

York

City

to

Nazareth,

Pennsylvania,

nd

from 1840

to

at

least

1851

formed

a

partnership

with

John

Coupa.17

Martin

started o

change

his

designs

and

began

to

develop

the

instruments hat

can be consideredas the distinctive

American

guitar.

The width of the upperbout wasreduced,the six-on-a-side tunersgave

way

to

three-each-side

uners,

and the interior

barringchanged,

as

the

maker

started o

develop

what

is

now known

as

X-barring,

which

has

become

the

standard

or

all

steel-strung

lat

top

acoustic

guitars oday.

An

example

of

the

developing

X-barred

guitar

rom this

period

can

be

seen

at the

EdinburghUniversity

Collection of

Historic

Musical

nstruments.18

[see

Fig.

4]

The lower bouts

of this

instrumentmeasure

12

across.

By

1852

Martin had

standardised is

instruments nto model

numbers,

the

larger

the

body

the

lower the

number,19and soon after he had

standardised

is

decoration

(this

time in

reverse,

he

higher

the

number,

the

more elaborate

decoration).

The

above-mentioned

guitar,

though

built before

Martinhad

standardisedhe

body

sizes,

corresponds

o a

size

2,

the

second

largest

of

the 1852

models

(the

largest

being

size

1

at

123/4 ).20

In

1854 size

0 was

introduced,

at

13'2 .

The next

increase n

body

size

occurred

n

1877

when size 00

was

introduced,

with

a lower

bout

14%

wide.

By

this

time the

gut-strung parlor' uitar

of

Americawas

more-or-less

the same size asthe gut-strung classical' uitar hat Torreshaddeveloped

in

Europe.

The

more

radical of

Johan

Staufer's

deas

-

The

floating

17

Coupa

was a

guitar

teacher

n New

York who

acted as

Martin's

agent

and

salesroom.

The actual

construction of

the

guitars

was

entirely

the

work

of

Martin.

1

This

instrument

(Catalogue No.768)

is

illustrated

n

Volume 1 of

the

EUCHMI

catalogue,

p.46

(with

incorrect

attribution).

The

features

mentioned

in

the

text

suggest

the

instrument

was

built

in

1845-50. This

guitar

is more

elaboratehan mostMartinguitarsof the

period,

particularly

he decorative

nlay

aroundthe

soundhole,

and

it retains

he

six-on-a-side

tuners,

suggesting

t

may

havebeen a

special

order.

There

is no

label inside the

instrument,

but

that

should

not be

seen as

suspicious

although

Martin

usually

ixed the

label

on

the

inside

of the

back of

the

guitar,

nstruments

hat retain

original

cases

sometimesshow

the

label on

the case

rather han

the

guitar

tself.

19

This

seems

surprising

t

first,

since most

people

would

expect

a

biggerbody

to have

a

higher

number.

Almost

certainly

his is a

throwback o

Martin's ime

in

Europe

when

wire

(and

possibly

also

gut?)

was numbered

n that

fashion

-

the

thicker he wire the lowerthe gaugenumber.

2()

The

Edinburgh

University

Collection also

possesses

guitar

of

this

size

(with

model

28

decoration),

Catalogue

No.291,

illustrated n

Volume 1

of

the

EUCHMI

Catalogue,

page

46.

Though

the

instrument is

labelled

'C.

E

MARTIN &

CO.

/

NEW

YORK',

the

instrument was

built in

Nazareth

sometime

between

1870 and

1898

-

Martin

instruments

were

distributed

rom

New York

until

1898,

when the

change

to

Nazareth

was also

reflected

on the

instrument

abels.

91



8/25

II I I

FIG.4.

C.

E

Martin,

EUCHMI

No.

768

fingerboard,

bolt-on

adjustable

neck,

and

six-on-a-side tuners had all

been droppedby Martin as standard ppointments althoughsome were

still available nd

used

on

special

orders

as late as

1898).

Exterior-wise,

the late instruments

of Torresand

Martinwere similar.

On

the

interior,

the

fan-barring

of Torres

was

very

different o the

X-barring

of

Martin,

and

it

would not be for another

50

years

hat

X-barring

would come into

its own on

steel-strung

instruments.

Writing

from the historical

perspective

offered at the end of the

twentieth

century,

t is

fair

to

say

that,

although very popular

in

their

time,

the

gut-strung

X-barred

instruments

are not as successful

as fan-barred

guitars.

C.

E

(Chris)

Martin

IV,

the

great-great-great-greatrandson

of Christian

Friedrich,

and the

present

head

of

C.

E

Martin&

Co.,

tried

to

introduce

a line of

modern

classical

guitars

with

X-barring,

only

to find

they

were

very

poor sounding.21

THE

TWENTIETH CENTURY

The

Martin

company

was not alone

in

making guitars

n

nineteenth-

century America,

nor

for that

matter were

they

even the

biggest

company.

That distinction

belongs

to

Lyon

and

Healy,

manufacturing

guitars

under the

Washburn label. In 1889

they

boasted

25,000

instrumentsbuilt since

they

commenced

manufacturing quarter

of a

century

earlier,

and

claimedto be

making

100,000

guitars

a

year by

the

21

See

Walter

Carter,The

Martin

Book,

p.16.

92



9/25

turn of the

century,

a

figure

probably

greatly exaggerated,

but

even

taking exaggeration

into

account

they

were

producing

much more

than

all

other

makers.22

The

Martin

company

were

making perhaps

200

guitars

a

year.

The

major

difference between

the

companies

was

that

Martin were

making

quality

guitars,

whilst

Lyon

and

Healy

were

producing mostly budget

mail-order instruments. Other makers at

the

end of the

nineteenth

century

included

Bauer, Bohmann, Waldo,

the

Larson

Brothers,

and Orville

Gibson.

Although

I

have

given

credit to

Gibson

for

developing

the

steel-strung

guitar,

it

is

important

to consider

the claim

of

the Larson Brothers. Carl

and

August

Larson

were

born in

Sweden and moved to

Chicago

in

the

1880s.

By

the

mid 1890s

they

were

building guitars

for various

companies, some under the Champion name, others for a teacher named

Robert

Maurer,

who

in

1900 sold his

factory

to

Carl Larson and two

partners

(who

were soon

replaced by August

in

that

year).

From the

outset,

the Larsons built

flat

top

guitars

designed

for

steel

strings,

and

might

have

actually

built

guitars

using

steel

strings

as

standard

prior

to

Gibson.

Certainly

Gibson set

up

in

business before the

Larsons,

and

there

is no firm

information

about Gibson's instrument

making

activities

before his

earliest

surviving

instrument

-

a

ten

string

(five

course)

mandolin-guitar

(tuned

to

the five

highest

strings

of a

guitar)

-

in 1894.

Gibson

certainly

deserves the credit for innovation -

although

the

guitars

of the

Larson Brothers were

specifically

designed

for

steel

strings

with the

construction

designed

accordingly,

Gibson

took

the

guitar

in

a new

direction,

based on the violin

and

mandolin.

Orville Gibson

was born in

Chateaugay,

New York

State

in

1856,23

the

son of

English

immigrants.

In

his

early

adulthood he

left

New

York,

moving

west to

Kalamazoo,

Michigan,

where he was

first

listed

in the

City Directory

in

1881. His

profession

was

that of a

clerk,

firstly

at a shoe

store, and later at a restaurant. It was probably during the 1880s that

Gibson

began

to make

musical

instruments. He

certainly

made

instruments

as an amateur

before

launching

his

full-time

business

in

1896,

the

year

he

was

listed

in

the

city

directory

as a

'manufacturer of

musical

instruments',

having

his

shop

(and

residence)

in

the

centre of the

town. His

amateur

activities were

intended as

a serious

pursuit

-

Gibson

no doubt

considered himself

to be an

instrument

maker

long

before he

was able to

give

up

his

other

employment.24

His

first

surviving

instrument was the

10

string

mandolin-guitar

mentioned

above,

and that

instrument has all the characteristics found in his later instruments. The

following

year

-

still

before

being

listed as a full

time

instrument

maker

-

22

See

Gruhnand

Carter:

Acoustic

Guitars,

p.29-30.

23

All

of the

biographical

nformation

about Gibson

comes from

Walter

Carter:

GibsonGuitars

100 Years

f

an

Americancon

Los

Angeles,

1994).

24

This

situation

s

not

uncommon,

even

today.

93



10/25

Gibson filed

his

patent

for a

mandolin,

the

patent

being

issued

on

1

February

1898.25 The

patent

contains what

is

perhaps

the

most

far-

reaching

innovation

of

the twentieth

century

acoustic

guitar

-

the

top

and

bottom of the instrument are carved rather

than flat

(as

found

on the

soundboards

of other mandolins and

guitars),

or made

up

of

many

ribs

(as

on

the

Neapolitan

style

mandolin

-

the

only type

available

before

Gibson).

The

patent

was for more

than

that

-

Gibson

specified

that the

neck and rims

(sides)

are carved

out of a

single piece

of

wood,

rather

than

bent to

shape,

and

the

neck

was

made hollow

under the

fingerboard

to

increase the air

cavity.26

It was

Gibson's

intention

that

the

body

of the

instrument should

be free of all

stresses,

an

idea

which was

probably

a

mistaken

understanding

of

violin

design.

But Gibson

clearly

believed that

the concept produced a superior tone - despite the much larger amount

of work

required,

almost

all of Orville

Gibson's

surviving

instruments

are

built

in

this

manner.

Gibson made a

variety

of

instruments

-

there

is

a

surviving

zither,

a

lyre-mandolin,27

guitars,28

mandocellos,

and two

types

of

mandolin

which

he referred to as

Style

A and

Style

E These

two

mandolin

styles

form

the standard

designs

still used

today.

Orville

Gibson's instruments

have characteristics

which

make

them

easy

to

identify.

The

first

is the carved

top

-

a distinctive

shape

which

does

not

follow the

general

contours as found

in

violins,

but rather

is

a

convex curve to within about

/2-1

of the sides before

becoming

concave

to

the

edge.

The carved

backs are flat

over most

of their

area,

the

curve

starting

within

1-12

of the

sides.

The

sides

are,

of

course,

carved

rather

than

bent

-

as

indicated

in

the

patent

-

and flow

smoothly

into

the

neck rather

than

having

the more usual

joint

found

in

other

guitars.

The

wood

used

for the back and

sides

is

usually

American

walnut.

The

decoration

often features

an

inlaid star

and crescent

(reputedly

done

by

a

Turkish

man

living

in

Kalamazoo),

and

the

better models

have a

black-

stained soundboard with inlay around the oval soundhole, an edge

banding

of

alternate

pieces

of

ebony

and mother

of

pearl,

and an

inlaid

scratchplate

motif

between

the

soundhole

and

the

bridge,

often

in

the

25

U.S.

Patent598245.

26

For a full

discussion

on the

technical

details of

Orville

Gibson's

paper,

see

Darryl

Martin:

Tension

Free Instruments

The

Guitarand

Mandolin

Designs

of

OrvilleGibson.

Paper

read at the

Colloquium

on Historical

Musical

Instrument

Acoustics

and

Technology,

Edinburgh,August

1997.

27The labelinsidethe earlyGibsoncompany nstrumentshowsa photograph

of Orville Gibson's

head

surrounded

y

a

lyre

mandolin.

In 1976

an

original

yre-

mandolin

was

taken

to the Gibson

company

for restoration

work,

and

inside

this

instrument

was the label

mentioned

above,

showing

that

Gibson

made

at least

two

of these

instruments.

See Carter

Gibson,

.30.

28

The

earliest

dated

guitar

known

to me

is

1898

(collection

of Scott

Chinery,

see

Vintage

Guitar

Gallery, anuary

1995,

for

a

photo

(and

some

discussion)

f this

instrument.

94



11/25

shape

of

a

butterfly.

However the most

distinctive feature

is

the sheer

size

of

the

instruments. The

string

length

is standardised

at

approximately

243/4

(629

mm),

and the

width across the lower

bout

is

16-17 .

A

similar

feature is found is his

mandolins,

where

the

string

length

of

Gibson's instruments is 15

(381

mm),

rather than the more usual

13 .

The

body

was

accordingly larger,

the

width

across

the widest

point might

measure

11 ,

rather than a

typical Neapolitan style

mandolin's

73/4 .

On

10

October

1902,

five

Kalamazoo businessmen

bought

out

Orville

Gibson

and formed what was then

known as the 'Gibson

Mandolin-

Guitar

Manufacturing

Co.,

Limited'.

This

company

has,

through

the

century,

become

renowned as one of the best

makers

of

all the

types

of

fretted

instruments

they

have

built. Orville

was

initially

paid

to act as

a

consultant, showing others how to make the instruments, but soon found

the

job

not

to

his

liking.

At

the

beginning,

the

instruments were

essentially

identical

to those of

Orville Gibson the

luthier,

and built

in

the

same manner.

The

Company

introduced its first

catalogue

in

1903

emphasising

all

of the

virtues

of

Orville's carved bodies. There

were

five

initial

product

lines

-mandolins,

mandolas,

mandocellos,

guitars

and

harp

guitars.

The Gibson

Company slowly

started to

change

some of

Orville's

construction

methods,

particularly

on

the

mandolin

product

line

where

the

F

style

mandolin

had lost a

body

point

by

1910.29

The

string length

was also reduced to the

present-day

standard of

13%7

The Gibson

Company

claimed

to

take

a

standard

13

scale as

found on a violin

and

added

%7

or the

width

of

the

frets).

The

other

changes

found their

way

onto

guitars

as

well

-

the

sides were bent in

the

normal

fashion rather

than

being

carved,

the air

cavity

under

the

fingerboard

was

removed,

the

curve

over

the

soundboard

began

to

follow the

general

shape

of a

violin,

29

The

F

style

mandolin s

the

industry

tandard

or

high

quality

designs oday.

It

is

very

distinctive

the modern

instrument

having

two

points

on the

lower

(treble)

side,

one

forming

a

sharp

upper

bout,

the other close to the bottom of

the

instrument.

On the

bassside the

upper

bout is in the

form of

an

open

scroll

towards

he

direction

of

the

fingerboard.

The

pre-1910

mandolin had an

extra

body point

just

below

the scroll

on

the bass

side,

opposite

the

upper

treble

point.

The

two

upper points

and

scroll

(though

going away

from the

fingerboard)

re

found on

an

instrument

known as

a

Guitarpa

essentially

a

harp guitar

with

super-treble

trings

at a

higher pitch

on the

treble

side.

A

Guitarpa

was

shown at

the

Great

Exhibition

at

Crystal

Palace,

London, 1851,

(see

Peter

and

Ann

Mactaggart

eds):

Musical

nstrumentsn

the

1851

Exhibition

Welwyn,

1986),

plate

14 for anillustration), nd it hasbeen suggested hat it was thisinstrumentwhich

formed

the basis

of

Orville

Gibson's

original

design.

This

authorwill

pursue

this

suggestion

in a

future

article. The

Martin

company

made

four

harp guitars

between

1902 and

1911

which

follow

the

Guitarpaconcept

quite closely,

in

having

the

harp

strings

passing

over

a

second

neck,

giving

an initial

appearance

f

a

double

neck

guitar.

See

Carter:

Martin,

pp.36-37

for an

illustration nd

details.

The

Guitarpa

tself

probably

originated

as a

development

of the

harp-lute

or

dital

harp,

as

made

by

Edward

Light

n

London

early

n

the

eighteenth

century.

95



12/25

and

the

essentially

lat back

was

replacedby

a curved

one,

similar

n

contour to that of the

soundboard.

The

inlaid

scratchplate

as

replaced

by

an elevated

one

(for

which the

Gibson

Company

alsoheld

a

Patent).

Some

guitarbody

sizesalso

ncreased,

with

the

appearance

n the

1904

catalogue

of the

'special

auditorium'model,

being

18 across he lower bout. The

Style

U

Harp guitars

were even

wider

at

183/4 .30

hat

the

guitar

was still

being thought

of

as

a memberof

the mandolin

amily

can

be

seen

in the

design

of

the

Company's

tyle

O guitar

which features

Style

F

type

scroll

on the bass

upper

bout

and

corresponding

utaway

ending

in

a

sharp

point,

allowing

access o the

higher

rets,

on the treble ide.

The Gibson

Company

was

alone

in

the

field of

carved

top guitars.

The Martin

Company

were

continuing

to

make their

flat

top

guitars, having introduced a larger body size - 000, a 15 wide

special-order

instrument first

appearing

in

1902. All of the

Martin

guitars

retained

gut stringing.

The Larson

Brothers,

manufacturing

under

a

variety

of

brand names

-

none

of

them

their own

-

were

continuing

with their

steel-strung

instruments,

including

harp

guitars

built

along very

different

lines

to

the

Gibson

type.

The

Larson

design

featured a

long

'extention

horn'

on the

bass

side

-

the

back

and sides of the same

pieces

of

rosewood,

and the

soundboard

of

spruce

with an additional soundhole.

This horn extended

from

the bassupper bout and curved towards the peghead where it had its

own

peghead

(holding

six sub-bass

strings)

attached to the

side of

the

headstock.

Lyon

and

Healy

continued

making

their

instruments

until

production

ceased on

guitars (though

continued

on

pianos

and

harps)

in 1928.

The

major

reason

for the

ever

increasing

body

sizes on

these

early

guitars

was

an

attempt

to

get

increased

volume. Volume

appears

o be

an

over-riding

concern

of

guitar

makers,

resulting

n

a

great

many

of

the innovations n both the steel and gut/nylon strunginstruments.In

the

late

nineteenth and

early

twentieth

century

the

guitar

had to

compete

with other instruments

the 5

string banjo

was

very popular

in the

nineteenth

century,

and

the mandolin

rose to the

fore around

the

turn

of the

century.

Perhaps

the most extreme

example

of

body

size

occurs

years

later,

with a

Larson Brothers

'Prairie

State'

guitar,

nicknamed

(by

dealer

George

Gruhn)

the

'Big

Boy'

which has a

width

of

21

across

he

lower

bout and

is

6%

deep.31

Despite

the

large

sound

30

As shown

and described n the

Company's

Catalogue

H' of

1912. The

harp

guitar

was

highly regarded,

nd

was

displayed

ver

the centre

pages.

See Carter:

Gibson,

.55.

31

Gruhn

at one time owned

a

guitar

of this model

and

kept

it as his

personal

instrument.

The

instrument

was

recently

sold

to Scott

Chinery. They

are

illustrated

n Gruhn and Carter:

Acoustic

Guitars,

p.272,

and

in

Vintage

Guitar

Gallery,anuary

1995,

p.12.

96



13/25

the model had little

impact,

due to

the

difficulties

involved in

playing

the instrument.

The

guitar

had another

competitor

in

the

years

around and

following

the Great

War,

with

the

development

of a

new

type

of

banjo,

with

four

strings

tuned in fifths like a

mandolin.

The

Gibson

company

paid

little

attention

to this

trend,

and

in

the

early

1920s came

up

with a

number

of

guitar

innovations

which are

taken

for

granted today.

The

first,

and

most

important,

was the

development

of

the

adjustable

truss

rod,

invented

by

Gibson

employee

Thaddeus

Joseph

(Ted)

McHugh,

the

patent

filed on

5

April

1921 and

granted

on 27

February

1923.32

The

adjustable

truss

rod

is

a circular metal rod inserted into a curved slot

in

the

guitar

(or

other fretted

instrument)

neck,

securely

fastened at one

end,

with a thread and nut at the other.

By

tightening

this nut, the rod

has more

pressure

on

it,

counteracting

the tension of the

strings.

A

second

innovation,

filed for

and

patented

slightly

earlier,

was the

height-adjustable

compensated

bridge.

The

adjustment

rod and

bridge

are

both

standard

on

archtop

and electric

guitars

today.

The

height

adjustment

has a self

explanatory purpose,

but the

string length

compensation

takes

into

account the

physics

of

the

string,

where a

thicker

string

needs to be

slightly longer

than a

thinner

string

for

the

fretting to have true intonation.

The next

innovation was a

new model of

guitar,

designed

as

part

of

a new

family

of

instruments,

comprising

mandolin, mandola,

mandocello and

guitar,

and known

as the

Style

5

family.33

These

instruments,

which are

visually

different,

are

associated with one

man,

Gibson's acoustic

engineer

Lloyd

Loar,

and

were made

between

1922

and

1924. The mandolin

and mandola

retain the

general

body

shape

of

the

two-point

instruments built from

1910,

but

feature

a

longer

neck

with 14 frets

clear of

the

body,

a raised

fingerboard,

and

f

holes,

rather

than the

earlier oval

holes. The

mandocello has

the

same

body

shape

as

the

guitar,

both 16

wide at the

lower

bout,

and

featuring

a raised

fingerboard,

f

holes,

a

tailpiece

to

hold

the

32

Patent

Number

1446758.

33

Each

type

of

instrument

was

given

its own

initial,

n

many

casesbasedon

the

earlierdesignations sedby the GibsonCompany.The mandolinwasbuiltin the

fancy

scroll

version

as the

F5,

the mandola was

referred to as

the

H5,

the

mandocello

the

K5,

and the

guitar

the L5. Gibson

were

also

making

Master

Model

(Style

5)

banjos,

for

example

the TB5

(tenor

banjo)

and RB5

(regular

banjo

with 5

strings).

The

banjos

could

not

be

tuned

during

construction

and

thereforeare

not

signed

by

Loar.There is

also at least

one A5

model,

a

mandolin

using

the

symmetrical

A

body shape

but

subjected

o the

same acoustical

ests,

which was

signedby

Loar

and has survived.

97



14/25

strings,34

and 14 clear frets on the

neck.35

The

biggest

contribution

occurs

in

the

construction

where

all

of the

major parts

-

the

soundboard,

back,

two

soundbars,

fholes

and air chamber were

'tuned'

-

adjusted

so

that each element

was

tuned,

literally,

to a

specific

note on

an

equal-tempered

scale based on a' = 440 Hz

(our

modern

pitch).36

This

process

was carried

out

by

trial

and

error,

but was

scrupulously

followed.

Each

instrument,

when

completed,

was

tested

and had

a

label,

signed

by

Loar,

inserted

into the

instrument

to

confirm

it

having passed

the acoustic tests.

There were about 350

Loar-signed

instruments,

approximately

250

of

them

mandolins,

and these instruments

are

considered

by

collectors

today

to be the ultimate

designed

instrument

family.

Lloyd

Loar left

Gibson at the end

of 1924 over a

disagreement

concerning another innovation of his - electric instruments. The Style

5 instruments

were ahead

of their

time,

but

the electric

instruments

even

more so. The

general concepts

of Loar's

design

would

not be used

particularly

until the

1980s,

and

though

the

Gibson

company

showed

the instruments

to their

teacher-agents they

met with little

success

and

were not considered

financially

viable to manufacture.

In

fact,

the

Style

5 instruments

themselves

were not

particularly

viable.

Although

no one

would

question

their

quality,

they

were built

at a time when

the

tenor

banjo

was

at the

height

of it's

popularity,

and with start

up

costs

taken

into account the models

put

Gibson into an

extremely

bad financial

position.

Elsewhere

in America

saw the

development

of another

new

innovative

type

of

guitar.

Marketed

under the name

National,

the 'resonator

guitar'

dispensed

with

the idea

of a

vibrating

wooden

soundboard,

and

instead

used

something

similar

to

a

loudspeaker

concept,

the

guitar's

bridge

being

mounted

on an aluminium

cone

which

vibrated.

The

resulting

instrument

had

a much

louder volume than

the standard

guitar,

as well

as

a noticeably different tone. The earlier guitars were built with square

necks,

to be

placed

face

up

on the

player's

knees and

played

with

a steel

bar

sliding

across the

strings

in

imitation

of

Hawaiian

music,

by

then

very

4

The

tailpiece

is an innovation

that comes

from

the

mandolins,

which

in turn

has

a

history

that can be traced

back to

violin

family

instruments

and

early

steel-

strung

fretted instruments

such as the cittern

and chittara

battente.

The main

advantage

is that the

tailpiece

supports

the

strings

from

the end of

the

guitar

rather than the bridge which would have the risk of being torn off by

the

tension

of the

strings.

The earlier

scroll

body

style

O

guitar

also

has a

tailpiece,

as do

earlier

harp

guitars.

The earliest

instruments

by

the Gibson

company,

and those

by

Orville

Gibson

himself,

had a

bridge

that was

glued

to the

soundboard,

with

the

strings

anchored

through

the

bridge by

small

tapered pins.

35

The scroll

body Style O

guitars

had a

cutaway

on the treble

side,

and

15 clear

frets to

the

body

join,

but the

standard

Gibson

guitars

had

only

12

frets clear.

36

See

Carter:

Gibson,

pp.82-84.

98



15/25

popular

n the

United States.37

he

roundneck

panish-style uitars

were

introduceda

year

ater.The idea of the resonator

guitar

camefrom

John

Dopyera,

who

applied

for a

patent

on 9

April

1927.38

The

new

production

instruments

were built with the

bridge resting

on three

aluminium cones, now known as the tri-cone system. Wood was

dispensed

with

altogether,

he

sides,

back

and neck

being

made of

nickel

plated

'German

silver',

often

heavily engraved. Following

a business

upheaval,

a

new instrumentwith a

wooden

body

and the

bridge resting

on a

single

cone was

developed,

underthe brandname Dobro.

In

1929 the

WallStreetCrash

provided

he

catalyst

o

plunge

America

into the

depression,

orcing

Gibson to start

making

wooden

toys

to

get

enough

turnover

o avoid

bankruptcy,

nd Martinmade

(although

never

sold) rosewoodjewellery.However,despitethe financialconstraints n

consumers,

he

1930s

probably

tandas the most

innovative

period

in

the

history

of

the

guitar,

at

least

n

regard

o the introductionof new

models

which

havehad a

lasting

effect

on

the

guitar.

The

first,

and

probably

most far

reaching,

innovation was the

development

of

the electric

guitar.

This was

originally

another

attempt

to make a

louder,

more

successfulHawaiian

nstrument.The

principle

of

the

guitar

pickup

is

fairly

simple

-

a

magnet

(or

group

of

magnets)

is

surrounded

by

a

very

thin

copper

wire,

wound around t

many

times,39

throughwhich the vibrationsof the stringsare turned into an electric

current

which then is sent to

an

amplifier.

The

earliest

commercially

made

electric

(Hawaiian)

uitar

s

referred o as the

'Fryingpan',

due to

its

shape,

and was

introduced

by

the

Rickenbacker

Company

in

1931.

The

first

Electric

Spanish

guitars

(as

most

American

companies

tend to

refer o

guitars

played

n

the

normal or

'Spanish' tyle)

came soon after.40

The

use of a

pickup

eliminatedthe

need for an acoustic

chamber

-

to

avoidfeedback

a

solid

body

guitar

s more

desirable.

37

A

number of

Hawaiian

guitars

were built

by

different

manufacturers.

Many

designs

were

developments

of

the standard

guitar,

however,

others

were

specifically

or

this

playing

technique, having

a

body

that extended the

whole

length

of

the

instrument n

an

attempt

o

increase he

volume.

Ukeleles were also

very popular

at

this

time.

The

manufacture

of

Hawaiian

nstruments

was

the

initial

reason

the

Martin

Company

started

putting

steel

strings

on

their

guitars.

This

process

was

completed

at Martin

by

1930

when

all

instruments

Hawaiian

andSpanish had steelstringsas standard.

38

See

Gruhn and Carter:

Acoustic

Guitars,

pp.225-229

for a

history

of the

resonator

guitar

and the

various

family

feuds and

Companies

associatedwith

these

instruments.

39

A

typical

Fender

Stratocaster

ickup

of

1954-55

has

about

8350

turns of

wire.

See Andre

Duchossoir,

TheFender

tratocaster

Milwaukee,

1989).

40

An

early

example

of

a

Rickenbacker electric

guitar

can be seen at the

Horniman

Museum, London,

Catalogue

No.M52-1992.

99



16/25

Guitarists

are

by

nature

very

conservative

in

approach,

and

the

introduction

of a successful electric

pickup

did

not mean that acoustic

guitars

would

lose

popularity.

The

typical

use of the

archtop

guitar

(for

example

the

Lloyd

Loar

L5

guitar)

was

in

jazz

combos and

orchestras,

and was

usually

confined

to a

rhythm

role due to the volume limitations.

Despite

the

depression,

Gibson introduced

their

largest,

fanciest,

and

most

expensive

archtop

model,

the

Super

400,

in

1934.41

This model was

18

wide across

the lower

bout,

a full

2

inches wider than

the Loar

model

L5,

which

in turn was advanced to 17 wide.

The

top

of the

instrument

was braced

in a X

pattern,

unlike the earlier

parallel

barring

on the L5

[see

Figs.

5 and

6].

FIG.

5.

Gibson,

Super

00

FIG.

6.

Gibson,

L5

Elsewhere

Martin,

having

lagged

behind

in the

design

of new

instruments

for

many years,

and

having

just

switched

from

gut

to

steel

stringing,

started

to

develop

new models.

The

first

was the OM

(Orchestra

Model),

introduced

in

1929,

featuring

a

14 fret

neck and

a

modified 000

body

(it

retained

the same

width but was

shorter

in

length).

The second

new model

was the

'D',

15%

wide at

the lower

bout,

with

a

waist

nearly

as wide as

the

upper

bout.

The D

in

the

model

designation

stood for

Dreadnought,

named

after the

British

battleship

built

in 1906.

The

X-barring

inside the instrument was by this time fully established

[see

Fig.

7].

Despite

the introduction

of the

14 fret neck on

the

OM

and

other

models,

the

D instruments were

initially

built

with a

12

fret

neck.

41

For a full

history

of the

Super

400,

and the

relatedversions

of the

L5 see

Thomas A.

Van Hoose:

The

Gibson

Super

400,

Art

of

the Fine

Guitar

(San

Francisco,

991).

100



17/25

1 7 7 7 7

FIG.

7.

Martin&

Co,

D

Model

The first D models were made

in

1931,

and

by

1933

they

were

popular

enough

to be ordered

by

Gene

Autry,

a

popular

film

singing

star,

who

asked orhis instrument o be decoratedn the Company'smostexpensive

style.

This instrument s the first

D45,

and

is

probably

he most

valuable

guitar

ever made.42

Only

91

pre-war

D45s

exist

-

the first

2,

and a later

special

order

with a

12

fret

neck,

the remainderwith the

standard

4 fret

neck.

It is this model

which

has

turned

around he

fortunes

on the Martin

company,

and s the

industry teel-strung

lat

top

standard

oday.

Gibson was awareof the

improvement

n the

fortunes

of

the Martin

company,

and

introduced

two models to

compete.

The

first

was the

SuperJumbo 200. This instrumentwas, like the D45, built with the

Western

cowboy type player

n mind. The

SJ200

had

a

noticeably

wider

body

than the

D45,

measuring

16'8

(later 17 )

across he lower

bout.

The

first

nstrumentwas built

in

1934 for

singing cowboy Ray

Corrigan,

a western film actor who has

genuine

ties to the real 'wild

west',

befriending

William 'Buffalo

Bill'

Cody

in

Milwaukee,

and then

working

in

the real-estate business with

Wyatt

Earp.43

Most

other

big-name singing cowboys

purchased

similar

instruments

soon after.

42Thiswasnot the mostvaluable

guitar

when

new,

but would almost

certainly

fetch a record

price

for a

guitar

were it to ever come onto

the

market,

even

without

the

ownership

connection. Pre-war

D45

guitars

are

commonly

considered

he most valuable ommon

production

vintage

guitars.

43

See

Vintage

Guitar

Gallery,April

1995

for more

details

about

this

guitar

and

the life of

Ray Corrigan.

The

article s written

by

the

collectorHank

Risan,

who

now

owns this

guitar.

101



18/25

Gibson also

introduced the Advanced

Jumbo,

a

16

wide

Dreadnought-

shaped guitar

aimed

to

compete

directly

against

the Martin instruments.

The

X-barring

of the

Martin

guitars

was also featured

on these

instruments.

Gibson also introduced the hybrid

jazz

electric guitar with the ES150

model,

first

produced

in 1937. The model featured

a

fairly

standard

archtop jazz guitar

(with

spruce

soundboard,

as

on all

the

acoustic

archtops)

with

a

built-in

electric

pickup.

A

year

later a fancier

17 wide

model,

the

ES250,

was introduced. The

pickup

used a

single

bar

magnet

and

is

referred

to this

day

as the

'Charlie Christian

pickup',

after the

musician who

popularised

it. The move was a

major step

forward for the

guitar

(and guitarists),

as for the

first

time the instrument

could be used as

a single melodic

line solo instrument

in

the

jazz bands, competing

with

trumpets

and

saxophones.

At the end of the decade

archtop guitars

were

being regularly

built with a

cutaway

on the

treble side at the

upper

bout

to allow

easy

access to the

upper

frets.

Nearly

all

archtop

and electric

guitars

make

use of

that

innovation

today.

Until

the

beginning

of the 1930s

Europe

had little

involvement

in

any

great

innovations

on the

guitar.

The classical instrument

as

developed

by

Torres

was

being

refined

in

Spain

and elsewhere

by

makers

such as

Manual

Ramirez,

Santos

Hernandez,

Miguel Simplico,

Hermann

Hauser

and Robert Bouchet.44 Both Hauser in Germany, and Bouchet in France

used a

barring

arrangement

in

some

of

their

instruments

following

a

Torres

design

with several

of the fan struts

passing

through

an

aperture

in

the

upper

harmonic

bar,

Bouchet

with such success

it is often

considered

his

own invention.45

[See

Fig.

8.]

The next

innovative

step

in

Europe

occurred

when the

Paris based Selmer

company,

under the

direction

of

the

Italian

guitarist

and

instrument

maker Mario

Maccafferi,

introduced

their

range

of instruments

in

1932.46

The first

period

lasted

less

than two

years

before

Maccaferri

left,

and

saw the introduction

of

four

standard

guitar

models

-

a normal

Spanish

style

classical

guitar;

a 'Concert'

model

classical

guitar

featuring

a

D-shaped

soundhole

and treble

upper

bout

cutaway;

and

steel

string guitars

-

the

'Jazz'

model,

built

identically

to

the

'Concert'

gut-strung

model,

and

an 'Orchestra'

model.

The

steel-strung

guitars

have

floating

bridges,47

and

strings

attached

to the

tailpieces

as

found

in

the

American-made

jazz

archtop

guitars.

One

particular

44

See

Romanillos:

Antonio

de

Torres,

Part

1, Chapter

4

for details.

45

See

Guitar

nternational,

ovember

1986.

This issue

of the

magazine

eatured

an

obituary

of Bouchet

and details

of

his

work.

46

For

a

good

outline

history

of

these

guitars,

and the

history

of the

company

see

Vintage

Guitar

Gallery,

April

1994.

47A

'floatingbridge'

is one

in

which

the base

of the

bridge

is not

glued

to the

soundboard,

but

is

shaped

o fit and held

against

t

by

the

pressure

f

the

strings,

similar

o

that of a violin.

102



19/25

FIG.8. Bouchet

innovation

was the use

of

an internal

resonator o

increase he volume.

The instruments

were all built

with flat

tops (though appear

arched

due

to the curved

soundboard

barring)

and were

initially

built

with

12

fret

necks.The fame of theseinstruments anbe attributedo the gypsy azz

guitarist

Django

Reinhardt,

who

used a

'Jazz'

model

from 1933 until his

death

in

1953.

Many jazz guitarists

used these

instruments

on

the

strength

on Reinhardt's

erformances.

After

Maccaferri eft the

company

a number

of

changes

were

made to the

instruments,

particularly

he

abandonment

of

the internal

resonator,

he increase rom

12 to 14 clear

fretson the

neck,

and

the

increase

n

string

ength

from 640

mm

to

670

mm. This is the

longest string length

of

any

standard

wentieth-century

guitar.48

The

period

from the late 1930s saw the

rise of several

ndependent

American luthiers

making

totally

hand-crafted

archtop guitars.

The

Strombergs

father

Charles,

and son

Elmer

-

started

making archtop

guitars

n

the

early

1930s,

as did the New Yorkmaker

ohn

D'Angelico.49

Both of

these

workshops

commenced

by building

instruments

that

basically copied

Gibson

designs

but later evolved their

own models.

Although

much of their

design

was evolved from the

work of

previous

48

Occasionallyother makershave- sed the samelength,for exampleRichard

Schneider,

working

to

the

designs

of Dr.

Michael

Kasha

(see

Tom and

Mary

Anne Evans:

Guitars:

rom

he

Renaissance

o Rock

New

Yorkand

London,

1977),

and

was

even

slightly

exceeded

(672 mm)

in a

nineteenth-century

guitar by

Miguel

Moya,

see Romanillos:

Antoniode

Torres,

.117.

49

For a

history

ofJohn

D'Angelico

and

a

discussionof

his instruments ee Paul

William Schmidt:

Acquired

f

the

Angels:

The

livesand

works

f

master

uitar

makers

JohnD'Angelico

nd

ames

L.

D'Aquisto

Metuchen

N.J.

and

London,

1991).

103



20/25

archtop

builders,

these makers were

able to

make

instruments

as custom-

ordered

by players.

The

Strombergs

developed

a standard

model which

was

larger

than the Gibson

Super

400

-

the

Stromberg

'Master 400'

measures

19

across the lower

bout,

their smaller 'Deluxe'

measuring

17% .

D'Angelico

retained the

18

and 17 models to match

Gibson,

but also

made a number of custom instruments a full

19

wide. These

instruments

were often

amplified

(as

were the Gibson L5 and

Super

400)

by

floating pickups

attached to the

end

of

the

fingerboard

so that the

vibrations

of

the

soundboard were

not

impeded.

The second World War

interrupted

most

guitar making,

but about this

time

the

major

innovation of

the classical

guitar

world

occurred

when

Albert

Augustine developed

and

perfected

the

nylon

classical

guitar

string. Of all the innovations mentioned, this is probably the most

successful.

It was soon

adopted by nearly

all classical

guitar players

and

50

years

after

the invention is used almost without

exception

todays5.

The

advantages

of

nylon

are that the

strings

have a

higher

breaking

strain

(can

be

tuned

higher

before

they

break),

whereas

gut

was

nearing

its

limits

at

modern

pitch,

the

strings

tend to be

truer,51

they

are

non-hygroscopic,

thus

retaining

their

tuning

better,

and were

cheaper

and

readily

available.52

Perhaps the post war years up to 1963 mark the greatest number of

innovative

changes

to the

guitar,

almost all of

which

have

survived and

in

many

cases

define the

guitar today.

The

earlier

period

of

development

concerned

the American

popular

instrument.

Shortly

after the

war saw

the

development

of the

first electric

solidbody spanish

guitar

built

in

5

do not know of

any

classical

uitarist

who

plays

with

gut

strings

nowadays,

with the

exception

of

period

instrument

performers

either

playing

copies,

or

originalnineteenth-centurynstruments, r early wentieth-century uitars.This

is

perhaps

unfortunatebecause

gut produces

a

different

ound which

most

people

tend

to

prefer

o

nylon,

and this is an

example

of

players

uffering

a loss of tone

quality

for convenience

and ease. It

would,

of

course,

be

'unauthentic'

o

play

modern

pieces

on

a

gut

strung

instrument,

but

it

would

be

interesting

o hear

early

twentieth-century

music

played

on

a

gut strung guitar.

So

successful

has

been

the

development

of

nylon

strings

hat

many

lutenistsuse

nylon

rather han

gut

on

lutes,

vihuelas

and

baroque

guitars.

51

Trueness

of a

string

is

easily

checked

by

playing

a

harmonic at the twelfth

fretand then playinga frettednote at the samefret. The pitch of a stringthatis

'true'

will

be

identical.Defects

in the

string

would

cause differences

which have

obvious

implications

or the

tuning

of

the

guitar

when

played,

particularly

t

the

higher

frets. It

must

be

said that

nylon

is

by

no mean

darryl martin innovation and the development of the modern six-string guitar

Documents