This one came up on the other cittern list yesterday:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360039861883
Does anybody have any suggestion what it may be?
Basic data:
Length: 71 cm (28 in.)
Scale: seems to be about 42 cm (16.5 in) but hard to tell
from a photograph
Strings: Four triple courses, no octave strings
Body: Wide body, roughly Portuguese guitar/English guittar
shape
Head: Standard Portuguese guitar scroll head
Tuners: A hybrid between regular Preston tuners and Böhm's
simplified Prestons. That is, they have clockwork key
bolt heads instead of thumbscrews but they're still
staggered.
Style/finish: Looks fairly typical 1920s/30s Markneukirchen to me.
But of course we find similar finishes elsewhere and
elsewhen too.
The tuners are particularly puzzling. They're similar (but not
identical) to the ones found on very early Böhms. I've never heard of
anyo other maker using this particular style. (For obvious reasons: it's
a rather impractical solution that only makes sense when seen as a
transitional style between regular and simplified Preston tuners.)
The only instruments I can think of with four triple courses and of
roughly this size are the tenor mandriola and the Spanish citara. But
the mandriola has octave strings and the citara has noticeable
"shoulders" by the neck/body joint and I've never heard of Preston
tuners of any kind being used for either.
Frank Nordberg
http://www.musicaviva.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Nordbergs-Music-Store?refid=store
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
