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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.
Accessed: 11/11/2014 04:43
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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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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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