I believe there is just one Voboam guitar that uses a complete shell of a tortoise, although indeed that family's guitars did use tortoise shell for decoration, as Peter notes below. The guitar in question is at the Cite de la Musique in Paris, and is attributed to Nicholas Alexandre Voboam II (after 1633-ca. 1693). It seems to be one of a kind, at least in the known Voboam family output. The head and legs are ceramic (thank goodness!).
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston also now owns a standard guitar by the same luthier. It belonged originally to a member of Louis XIV's court at Versailles, where "Everyone at court wanted to learn [the guitar], and God alone can imagine the universal scraping and plucking that ensued." ThaT probably accounts for the demise of the lute in France. You can see and hear Chris Henriksen play the MFA's Voboam here: http://tinyurl.com/3zncjt To hear other instruments, including one of its citterns, take the Museum's "Audio Tour" of plucked instruments. The some 129 instruments (including the Voboams mentioned here) in the MFA's exhibition (a whopping 140,000 persons saw the exhibition) may be seen in Darsie Kuronen, _*Dangerous Curves: Art of the Guitar*_ (Boston: MFA, 2000). Darsie was recently elected vice-president of AMIS, and we are so fortunate to have him in Boston, where he is revitalizing the Department of Musical Instruments.. The core of the Museum's collection of musical instruments was purchased from Canon Galpin in 1941. An important musical instrument collection (the second largest in France, I am advised) is due to open soon in Nice. =====AJN (Boston, Mass.)===== This week's free download from Classical Music Library is Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A, op. 90 'Italian', performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Stefan Sanderling, conductor. More information about this piece is available on our music blog [http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AlexanderStreetPress/b125e4d442/9d403851a0/bb5f347e57]
