English guittars
Click on any picture for a larger version.
English guittar Restoration 2004
The English guittar was popular in the 18th century in England. It has wire strings and is a type of cittern. This particular English guittar is owned by John Wesley's Chapel in Bristol, England and is known as 'Sarah Wesley's guittar'. Sarah was married to John Wesley's brother, Charles, the hymnist. She tought music to her family in their Bristol home, which is now owned by the Chapel. Eventually, the guittar will be displayed there. At the present time it is on view in the Chapel.
The purpose of the restoration was to preserve the instrument and make it presentable. There was no intention of making it playable, although that could have been done. A large number of cracks and splits were repaired and a new ebony bridge was made as the one with the instrument was the wrong size. The maker, Frederick Hintz, of Soho, London, was active from about 1756 to 1771. His lable is visible through the soundhole showing the date 1757. This is the form of the English guittar with turned wooden tuning pegs. Other instruments have mechanical tuning systems as it is difficult to tune the wire strings.
Another view, the new bridge, ivory pins and detail of the pegpox |
English guittar Restoration 2006Made by Gibson 1788, Dublin
The instrument as it arrived. Nine out of ten of the interesting tuning machines work. The tip of the head is broken off, the back coming away from the body and many bars loose. Inlay is missing from the tip and the bridge has lost it's ivory top. Gibsin's signature and date are written under the varnish at the heel. This English guittar came with a capo which fits into holes drilled in the neck.
The nut shows the strings arranged in five courses of two strings each. The more usual arrangement is top four courses paired and bottom two courses single. There are other old English guittars in Dublin set up as five course instruments.
The back was easily removed as it had already partly come away. Most of the bars needed re-gluing to the back. One back bar remained tightly glued to the body. A previous repairer had used metal pins to help reposition the back and these are visible in the larger version of the photo of the back.
The instrument has had woodworm infestation. I left the holes unfilled but perhaps a previous repairer did not. The outside of the instrument has many examples holes filled tiny round pieces of wood. Some of the holes are woodworm size, others larger - the one shown here is about 2.5mm in diameter.
Inside the instrument we can see that the holes have been filled with wooden cones. Trimmed flat on the outside, they are very noticable inside. There were more than twenty cones. This type of repair would have been done without needing to have access to the inside of the instrument.
The rose is thin metal. It looks as if it was stamped rather than cut. It is crudely attached to the soundboard and is not aligned with the centre-line of the instrument.
The bridge with it's new bone edging.
The restored English guittar. It is strung with nine strings. The fourth course, which should have been double, is single due to the one non-working machine head. The string length is 472mm and I tuned the instrument to A. The tuning is A C# E a c# e. |
English guittar Restoration 2006A lute-backed English guittar. The instrument seems to be structurally sound and needs a bridge, string pins, attention to the brass frets and strings.
Part of an email from the owner, shown here with his permission. However, I also have an old Cittern (sometime called an English guittar) made in 1758 by Hoffman of London. I got it when I was 16 (half a century ago) from my great aunt, a daughter of the Victorian sculptor, Sir Hamo Thornycroft. A note signed by him attached to headstock of the instrument tells that he bought it in Bond Street in 1868. It has his monogram carved in an ivory plate on the headstock.
Sadly it reached me in matchwood state (well, broken into little bits anyway) and I, with the arrogance of youth tried to repair it. All the bits were there except for fragments of the rose. Based on those fragments I made a balsa copy and stuck it on. A number of the original frets were in place but where missing I replaced them with pieces cut from sheet brass. Some of the string pegs also had to be replaced. I used plastic bits from a toy. The bridge was missing and I carved (whittled might be a better word) one for it. It was a thoroughly disreputable repair job but at least it kept everything together until now.. From the lable, I read:
..ght this lute in Wardour
Work has begun with the turning of the pins for the strings.
The restored English guittar - June 2006
|
