The First Guitars

No one knows exactly how the guitar came into being. There were so many variations of stringed instruments in Europe and the Middle East in the 15th and 16th centuries that it is impossible to determine which one was first adapted into what we know as the guitar.

Despite the lack of a formal standard, the instrument that came to be known as the guitar incorporated several features that would ultimately define the instrument. They had flattened tops and backs, and the movable gut frets of old were replaced with permanent frets made of ivory or metal. A single soundhole--a direct remnant of the lute--was utilized, as were multiple courses. Incurved sides became the most standardized element of the instrument, creating a design element that has lasted to this day.

Historians have tried for years to hunt down the very first guitar built solely as a 6 string instrument. Given the poor state of recordkeeping two hundred years ago, this is an almost impossible task. The oldest surviving 6 strings come from several luthier families in and around Naples, Italy, in the 1790s, notably the Fabricatore family. It is probable that some luthiers made 6 string guitars as much as 20 years earlier, but large-scale production did not occur until the 1790s.

There are enough instruments from the 1790s that have survived to show that the 6 string was a popular instrument that was created in large numbers. By the early 1800s, notable luthiers like Stauffer in Vienna and LaCote in France were building sought-after 6 strings.

The Shape

There is no record as to where the inspiration for the famous figure 8 shape of the guitar - formed by its incurved sides - came from. What is known is that during the 15th century, several lute-like instruments with incurved sides appeared in Western Europe, primarily on the Iberian Peninsula. The vihuela was the most notable of these.

There is significant debate as to why the incurved sides, which resemble an hourglass, were used. One explanation is that the incurved sides were an attempt to create an instrument that could be bowed (like a violin or cello) and also plucked and strummed (like a lute). Indeed, the viheula was plucked and strummed and occasionally bowed.

Another possibility is that Iberian luthiers refused to use a rounded shape because it was a reminder of the oud, brought over by the Moors who had conquered Iberia. Or perhaps the Iberian luthiers found the bowl shape of instruments like the lute to be artistically dull, and rebelled against that shape by creating something more beautiful. Some believe that the curves, right down to the slender waist, were intended to represent the curves of the female body.

Or it could simply have been a matter of form and function. The bowl back of lutes required that the lute be balanced carefully between the legs or in the lap. Creating an incurve allowed an instrument to be positioned comfortably on the knee, where it rested easily in place.

Chordophones

Guitars belong to a group of instruments known as chordophones. These are instruments that make sound using a string-or many strings-stretched between two points. The pulling, plucking, strumming, bowing, or hammering of the string causes a vibration that generates sound waves. The greater the string tension, the higher the pitch of the sound. Chordophones usually have a resonator, or soundbox, that helps amplify and project the sound that is made when the string vibrates. Guitars, banjos, lutes, violins, and cellos are all chordophones.

The word is slightly misleading in that it appears to describe instruments upon which a musicians plays chords, which are groups of notes played simultaneously. While most stringed instruments lend themselves to the use of chords, many chordophones, such as the violin, are primarily used to play individual notes.

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