A Brief History of the Classical Guitar by luthier and guitar-maker Antony Dixon
Nobody really knows where the earliest origins of the guitar lie.
As long ago as 1400BC the Hittites were playing a stringed instrument
with a long neck and a body with a waist. Whether or not this
was the direct ancestor of today's guitar we have no way of knowing.
We do know that during the 15th century, a guitar-like instrument
was developed in Spain called the vihuela or viola da mano. This was played by genteel folk. There was also a similar instrument
(but with a different tuning) called the guiterra or ghiterne, which was played by the common people. By about 1550, the two
had merged into one instrument. It had eight strings, tuned as
four pairs (or courses). By the end of the century a fifth course
had been added. It had also become popular abroad, where it came
to be known as the Spanish guitar. King Henry VIII's inventory of instruments included four gitterons or Spanish vialles.
One of the great advantages the guitar had over the lute was that
it was easier to play. People of mediocre musical talent seized
upon it and quickly learned to strum a few chords, much to the
disgust of those who thought they had more cultured tastes. Samuel
Pepys, for example, was "mightily troubled that all that pains
should have been taken over so bad an instrument". Another commentator
thought that "its sounds are related to the kettle, and it always
seems to whine". The guitar, however, had come to stay, and its
popularity grew throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Around 1800, the five courses were replaced by six single strings,
tuned the way we are familiar with today. Up to this time, guitars
had very narrow bodies and were also rather quiet. When the piano
was introduced, the guitar went into rapid decline, but new developments
were just around the corner.
About 1840, a Spanish carpenter named Antonio de Torres began
making guitars. He revolutionised the sound of the guitar by giving
his instruments a much larger body than had previously been used.
He also devised a pattern of fanstruts which were glued under
the soundboard, both strengthening it and enhancing its tone.
He had an inborn sensitivity to the acoustic properties of the
wood he was working with. Although much of his wood came from
old furniture which he dismantled, few makers since have been
able to equal the beautiful tone, sonority and character of his
instruments. Although some modern makers have devised new patterns
of strutting, Torres' design still forms the basis of most fanstrutting
used to this day, and many people look up to him as the undisputed
master of guitar makers. |