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Guitar History: Part One

© Jason Elek

The guitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world, but it hasn’t always been as popular as it is today.

Early forms of the guitar can be traced back to the Arabic instrument, the Ud. The Ud eventually influenced the lute, which became fairly guitar-like in the sixteenth century. It had six pairs of strings, or “courses,” not unlike the modern twelve-string guitar. The difference was that the lute was much smaller, and it often had bass strings that were unfrettable. These bass strings sort of floated off of the fretboard to the side, so they could only ring at the tone to which they were tuned.

Another popular ancestor of the guitar is the vihuela. It was very popular in Europe, and especially Spain, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first guitar music was found in books from the seventeenth century full of music that was written mostly for the vihuela. It is even more closely related to the guitar than the lute, because of its six courses—minus floating bass strings—and more guitar-like body shape.

The earliest actual guitars were considered low-class by lute and vihuela players, but eventually the popularity of the guitar overcame that of the lute and vihuela.

The basic design of the acoustic/classical guitar has remained the same over the last five centuries, but the materials and arrangements have evolved with the times. Here are some of the major highlights:

The earliest preserved guitar has been dated at the end of the sixteenth century. It had five courses, and instead of inlayed frets, it had gut frets, which were tied around the neck. It also had a much more ornate design covering the headstock, neck, and body.

The first guitar to use wire strings was the 1627 Chittara Battente. It was built by Giorgio Sellas and was played with a quill pick. It was also one of the first guitars to use metal frets.

In 1760 Jean Salomon, a French guitar maker, built one of the first guitars to have six courses of strings instead of five. It was also the first guitar to have internal fan bracing, and eventually six single strings replaced the six courses.

An Italian guitar player named Luigi Legnani influenced the first guitar to feature machine-head tuners instead of friction tuning pegs. The guitar was built by Austrian luthiers Johann Staufer and Georg Ries, and it also featured the first asymmetrical headstock.

C. F. Martin made a couple advancements in guitar design with his 1875 Martin Style 2 guitar. It was the first guitar to feature cross-bracing instead of fan-bracing, and it was also the first guitar to use pins to hold the strings in place at the bridge, instead of them just being tied on.