Study the photos of the Gibson cittern: http://www.palmguitars.nl/archive/tales/wgibson.html
The thumb groove in the neck confirms a very un-classical way of handling - but... it would really have been needed, because this is not a six-course model, it has seven courses: three single basses, then three paired mean and treble courses, and a high single chanterelle string. I have not come across this configuration before and the ivory nut etc all looks original, with a string spacing to suit. Also, see the brass soundhole rose. Clearly pictured are two fiddles (mirrored), two guitars (cittern-guitar hybrid, could be meant to be a regular baroque guitar, or a cittern) with frets, and Irish wooden flutes of the period. OK, maybe they didn't sit in the pub playing Planxty Irwin, but that rose certainly says 'guitar/cittern fiddle flute' which supports my general feeling that instruments which go so well together today have gone well together in the past, and modern sessions using guitar or cittern are not anachronisms even if the setting and style may be. Great stuff Rob. I have been told maybe by you or others that the Gibson Dublin to Gibson USA connection is unlikely or not the case. This shop proprietor also seems to say he has no real idea. David Rob MacKillop wrote: > I've just got back from a family trip to Amsterdam. What a beautiful place! > Found a haven for old guitars, citterns, and various Asian instruments: > www.palmguitars.nl > > One of the thousand or so instruments on display was a pristine Dublin > Gibson 'guittar' from c.1765. I immediately enquired about the price, only > to be told that it was the one instrument not for sale! The guy, Soren > Venema, thinks that Orville Gibson of THEE Gibson guitars is related to the > Dublin Gibson. And he further believes that, if he is right, he is sitting > on a fortune, as he has 'the earliest Gibson guitar'... Well...I actually > don't have proof that he is wrong! Does anyone? > > Rob > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- Icon Publications Ltd - f2, Master and Photoworld magazines Resources and links to all our websites, music and picture sales http://www.iconpublications.com/
