Hi cittern bunch, Has anybody out there looked into the various keyboard mechanisms that were used on the english guittar? I went up to the Met museum in NY yesterday, where they have examples of the two approaches that I know of: (Christian?) Claus's instrument that has the hammers inside the body of the guittar; and "Smith's Patent Box", which is retrofitted onto any standard guittar.
They have two Clauses at the museum. Both have unusual string layouts, with the courses arranged 3,3,2,2,1,1 from high to low. i.e., 3 strings in the 1st and 2nd courses, etc. One of them has what appears to be an original bridge with a sliding attachment for damping the strings. So the instrument has multiple playing possibilities: with fingers like normal; with the keyboard; and with either fingers or keyboard plus the damping thingie. Somebody (Bremner?) refers to damping the strings with the side of the right hand ala surf guitar, i believe. The two Clauses were in pretty bad shape generally, but one of them is without a rose, which makes it possible to see the sticks and levers that make up the hammer action. I couldn't fathom it on first viewing. They're all busted up in there. On the other Claus the hammer mechanism is intact but it's really hard to see in there... They let me take apart the "Smith Patent Box" (attached to a typical e.g. by anon) which is in very good condition, though not quite in working order. I had brought along my guitt for show and tell, and placed the box in position on my instrument. it made an amazing sound, much louder than that produced by plucking; kind of hammered dulcimerish. Anyway, the box is a very elaborate and precise construction of wood, parchment and leather, with brass wire "springs" for the keys and hammers. I took about a million pictures, if anybody wants to race me in constructing one. The way i understand it, the keyboard idea appeared late in the history of the guittar, 1780s? In the music library at Yale they have an instruction book for the "Piano-Forte Guittar" written by Ghillini di Asuni(!) and published in London, circa 1795, by Longman & Broderip. I haven't seen the book yet. I find this all very interesting. andy rutherford -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
