on 12/5/08 4:05 pm, Christopher Davies at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Can anyone shed light on this question: What is the historical evidence for > using tortoiseshell on Renaissance/Baroque plucked instruments? My 18th c. > cetra features a tortoiseshell fingerboard, and I wonder at what point this > practice (or likewise use as decorative inlay on belly) is documented. > I have some lovely faux tortoiseshell (granted, a 19th c. creation) from > Turtleworks company and am tempted to use it on something other than an > English guittar. > thanks, > christopher davies > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > Plenty of tortoiseshell used on Voboam (Parisian) guitars. Earliest I can think of off-hand is the Rene Voboam in the Ashmolean, 1640(?). There may well be earlier examples by the Sellas family in Venice. If you don't have enough for a guitar, there are plenty of cithrinchen by Tielke at the end of the century.
Best wishes, Peter
