I have added 2 photos to my website on the Andrade Portuguese guitarra: http://fernandezmusic.com/Andrade_Guitarra.html
One photo shows the end pins which were common on older instruments. The other photo shows the Andrade Guitarra next to my John Preston English Guittar. This photo gives a good comparison between the 2 instruments I have also refined my statement about the tuning used in the Havelock book explaining that it was what 19th century Portuguese called the natural tuning which was an adaptation of the 6-course 10-string English Guittar tuning for the 6-course 12-string Portuguese guitarra. As for the age of this instrument which Roger was questioning. I am inclined to date this instrument before 1900 for several reasons. 1) On a trip to Lisbon a few years ago, Luis Penedo mentioned to me that such ladies' Portuguese guitarras were made at that time such as the one I have. 2) The guitarra was imported by Alban Voigt who went through the trouble to promote such instruments by publishing an English language method book between 1892 and 1895. I believe that the popularity of the Portuguese guitarra in Britain did not extend much into the 20th century. 3) The tuning machines (called chaves or leques) are unlike the nickel plated ones of the 1950's and the brass ones of the 1920's that I have possession of. The design is like ones I have seen which were apparently from the turn of the 20th century. 4) The end pins are a very old method for securing strings--the 18th century Preston Guittar I have uses the same system. In contrast, Portuguese guitarras I have seen from the 1920's and later all have some metal bracket for affixing strings. The fact that the Andrade guitarra was made of Brazilian rosewood instead of local Portuguese species and was inlaid with colored veneers on the side, tortoise shell (or faux tortoise shell) on the face and small metal design suggests that it was a higher end instrument--along with this there is the expectation that it would have a fancy string bracket if it were a later made instrument. 5) The light color of the binding is simply of a binding which has been cleaned up before the French Polishing. I was compelled to do an aggressive cleaning of the instrument because the previous repair was a really botched job with glue blotches all over and a damaged finish. If someone has a similar instrument with good documentation I would like to hear from them. I think that the design of the tuners are especially important in dating this instrument. I bought the Havelock Mason book on eBay. It was a bit expensive but it was a good copy. I am pleased to have it for historical purposes but I have to say that there is nothing in it which was interesting for me to play. Regards, Ron Fernandez -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
