GEAR 27: The Stradivarius
Stradivarius crafted this sacred guitar in the 1680s in Cremona, Italy.
I recently visited the instrument for a study visit courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
How the Strad ended up in England is not known although there was reportedly a craze for the 10 stringed guitar in the late 17th, so it was probably imported by someone with deep pockets.
Even Vermeer was inspired by guitar in these times and painted this in 1672
A few examples of this Stradivarius guitar model survive. There is another in the National Guitar Museum in America.
The museum prohibits playing it, which is understandable considering how rare and fragile it is.
The five courses of double strings remind me of the modern 12str, although I cannot find the popular tuning of 10str guitars in 1680.
Back in those days strings were made from intestines so it is hard to imagine the sound. The decorative 3-ply Rosette covering the sound hole would suggest that he was not looking for the guitar to project much beyond the parlour of the player.
The Strad was bequeathed to the museum in 1939 so it has been out of action for at least 85yrs.
It is small and light, reminiscent of a Santa Cruz 0 size parlour.
The proportions remind me of most modern parlour acoustic guitars, but perhaps a little less chubby in the body than most.
The tuners are ‘tighten, push & twist to grip’ like a violin.
In 2016 I visited the 1830s Stauffer guitar below in the Martin museum. It was a similar size and weight to the Strad, although it had 6 strings and by this time the tuners were metal.
The neck shape of the Strad is a modest D.
Actually the shape of the neck is not dissimilar to this PRS electric guitar.
Here is me at full stretch trying an imaginary min add 9 chord shape - they are wide.
The tonewoods used are Flamed Maple, Spruce and Ebony. It is a renowned recipe and has been repeated for centuries by many luthiers.
It had 12 frets to the body. The upper frets being inlayed.
Here are some more pics:
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The purpose of this article is to reveal a treasure to those who will never be able to visit the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. For those of you based here in the UK it is free to enter and the guitar is on display alongside others in their Music exhibit.
The museum shop sells a scale diagram of the Strad (front & back) which you can order online if you are interested in the actual measurements. Here is the front:
Learn more about the luthier here: https://www.corilon.com/gb/library/master-portraits/antonio-stradivari-a-story-of-sound-and-echoes
Btw, here is what guitar music looked like back then