minstrel: guitar history???

[Tadhg O Cuileannain]

My research indicates that almost all plucked string
fingerboard instruments were strung with gut, with the
single (and possibly partial) exception of the citole.
 There are two specific references to string materials
for the citole: one by Jean de Brie in 1379 stating
that gut is best (it's a rather sweeping statement
that includes many instruments, including harps and
rotas, which we know were sometimes strung with
metal); and one by Tinctoris in 1487 stating
explicitly that citoles (or cetulas, in italian) were
strung with brass or steel.  I consider Tinctoris more
reliable because he is more specific, but there are
other opinions--see:

http://crab.rutgers.edu/~pbutler/citole.html

as well as Christopher Page, VOICES AND INSTRUMENTS OF
THE MIDDLE AGES, which has a lengthy appendix on
string materials.

At any rate, it seems clear that all the guitar
ancestors were gut-strung, the steel-string guitar
being a 19th century American invention.

Tadhg

--- Frederick Joseph Ross <> 
> Speaking of the absurd tension of steel, can anyone
> comment on the use of
> metal strings on the plucked instruments besides the
> lute in period?  I
> am certain that nothing with more than seven or
> eight strings would use
> steel for reasons of construction, and steel strings
> were unused on bowed
> strings until the first World War.
> 
> Gian Filippo da Cremona
> Shire of Isenfir
> 
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Tadhg O Cuilleannain of One Thousand Eyes
Tim Connor of Idaho Falls, Idaho
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