Then and Now: Guitar

Early and Modern Guitars

Renaissance guitar

This instrument is a replica of a 16^th century Renaissance guitar. Although similar in its general design to the modern classical guitar, it is smaller in size, has only four courses of gut strings (the three lowest courses are double, the highest single), the fret board stops where the resonator begins, and the sound hole is veiled with an elaborately carved rosette.

Baroque guitar

This instrument is a replica of a 17^th century Baroque guitar. Although similar in its general design to the modern classical guitar, it is smaller in size, has only five courses of gut strings (the four lowest courses are double, the highest single), the fret board stops where the resonator begins but there are a few frets glued to the face of the resonator, and the sound hole is veiled with an elaborately carved rosette.

Classical guitar

This is a modern classical guitar, which achieved its current form and dimensions by the mid-19^th century in Spain. It has six single-course strings nowadays most typically made of nylon (the lowest pitch strings are usually nylon core wound with very fine wire). The modern guitar has more frets than its earlier counterparts and the fingerboard continues over the face of the resonator up to the completely open sound hole.