Antique 18th C Guittar - recording
David Kilpatrick
I have made a short recording using an English guittar acquired from eBay recently (found
in Ontario junk shop). This instrument is tuned ac#ea'c#'e' with iron, brass and wound
strings and resembles a cittern or mandolin, but is played fingerstyle. It sounds rather
like a harpsichord.
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/1416/1416640.html
You can see highly detailed photographs, and a full description of the instrument, at:
http://www.maxwellplace.demon.co.uk/pandemonium/guittar.html
The spelling 'guittar' is that used for this instrument in music and instruction books of
the mid-1700s. It was widely played throughout the Britsh Isles, Europe and America and
was the popular instrument which preceded the (Spanish) gut-string guitar. The closest
modern equivalent is the Portugese fado guitarra, originally based on an instrument very
similar to mine taken to Portugal by English wine traders. The guittar is probably one of
the origins of American slide guitar and banjo tunings, as in its larger form it was tuned
to Open G and Scottish and Irish tunes were played on this by emigrants.
David Kilpatrick