minstrel: guitar history???

[Tadhg O Cuileannain]

--- nickolas kaugon <ollaimh at yahoo.com> wrote:
> there are essentially three elements that define a
> stringed instrument.
> 
> 1. the nature and quality of the strings
> 2. the nature and quality of the resonating surface.
> 3. the over all dynamic of the sound producing
> tension
> in the instrument.

Actually, the defining qualities (according to
generally accepted scholarly classification systems)
are:

1. The spatial relationship of the strings to the
soundboard (parallel, as in lutes, or perpendicular as
in harps);
2. Stopped vs. unstopped strings;
3. How the strings are sounded (plucked vs. bowed)
4. And finally, string materials--this last being
somewhat variable, though obviously the difference in
tension between metal and gut (or silk, or horsehair,
both of which were used) strings has important
implications for construction.



 
> 2. the resonating surface can just be a skin head.
> the
> warwickshire cittern(now converted to a fiddle)
> probably had a skin head. 

The consensus of scholars now is that the Warwickshire
"cittern" is actually a citole.  It probably had a
wood top, but flat rather than arched.  The string
material is something of an open question.  I'm
inclined to believe it was metal, but see

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

for a more complete discusion of the issue.

However, it seems clear to me that there were
instruments with skin heads in the middle ages. 
"Al'ud", the arabic word that gave us "lute", means
"wood", probably to distinguish the instrument from
its skin-headed ancestors.  The Cantigas di Santa
Maria illuminations seem to show several skin-headed
instruments, including oval-bodied, long-necked ones
that look like they could be ancestors of the saz and
bouzouki.  There's a picture of a rebec that seem to
have a top that is half skin and half wood.



> these are th features that you lookm at to really
> see
> if one instrun\ment is related to another, as well
> as
> historical documentation. a few lutheriers left
> writtn
> evidence of theit techniques, such as strasivarius,
> and heibert, and some others.

But very few in period--and there are only a small
handful of surviving string instruments in period. 
There is, and always will be, a lot we don't know.  In
the medieval period (pre-1450) the only instruments
for which we have unambiguous documentation of metal
strings are harps, psalteries, and rotas.

Tadhg



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Tadhg O Cuilleannain of One Thousand Eyes
Tim Connor of Idaho Falls, Idaho
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