There are a lot of myths in the guitar community about how and why the modern instrument came about. The thought that the modern guitar is to the 19th century guitar what the modern piano is to a fortepiano has been repeated so often that people believe it.
A modern classical guitar is not at all loud. Try comparing the sound of a 19th century guitar without nails to a modern guitar played without nails. The 19th century guitar will not only sound louder, but balanced (assuming the guitar is decent). The modern guitar will sound weak and muddy with a very boomy bass and virtually no treble definition. The 19th century guitar is therefore actually the louder of the two instruments. The key ingredient to the modern guitar's sound is fingernails. I believe that in order to get more volume, performers started playing "standard" 19th century guitars with nails, but found the sound unpleasantly strident. (Aguado, for example, used nails. His duo partner, Sor, however, did not.) The solution came in making a bigger body, which did not add volume in itself - it merely mellowed out the tone to allow for nail playing. Fan bracing was also used to make the timbre less pingy, but this was nothing new; it had been used on baroque lutes long before. All of these developments took place with gut strings. Nylon strings came about post-WWII and allowed for greater string tension and more forceful playing. I personally enjoy the sound of a modern classical. It makes a beautiful and effective solo instrument. Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Mon, 11/1/10, Jelma van Amersfoort <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Jelma van Amersfoort <[email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: OT: 19th C guitar > To: "Suzanne Angevine" <[email protected]> > Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, November 1, 2010, 4:28 AM > I think making the body bigger > doesn't automatically make the guitar > louder. It mostly emphasizes the lower > harmonics/fundamentals and the > bass side of the guitar. I think they were after a > different (darker, > more homogenous) timbre rather than a louder sound, in the > late 19th > and early 20th century. Is a very interesting question, but > also hard > because there are so many different styles of guitar making > in that > time. > > Early 19th century guitars work as well in halls as modern > classical > guitars, I find, but by different means: they (most of > them) seem to > be more treble-like, and more 'piercing' compared to (most) > modern > classical guitars. > > Hartelijke groeten, Jelma van Amersfoort > > > > > > On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 5:24 PM, Suzanne Angevine > <[email protected]> > wrote: > > In that same excellent concert the second half was > played on a replica of a > > 19th century guitar, the kind with a smaller body and > simple lute-like > > barring. I'm struck by how beautiful, bright, and > clear the sound of these > > instruments is, especially when playing music from > that period. (I heard a > > fine Carulli sonata.) > > > > So what were builders and players after that they made > the body bigger and > > the barring stronger on modern classical guitars? > > > > Suzanne > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > >
