Guitars have existed in many different shapes and forms for hundreds of years. The Arabic oud is considered an ancient ‘cousin’ of the guitar and can be traced back to thousands of years ago (and still exists today). Similar looking to the lute which would come later, the Arabic oud was built in a teardrop shape with a rounded back, with 11 strings in a double stringing fashion like the modern 12-string guitar (one was a single string). Many following instruments adopted this double stringing design, allowing for greater projection and definition in the sound.
This instrument was played with an oud plectrum (like many that would come after it), which had a longer shape and would be wrapped between the fingers to pluck the strings – not dissimilar to the modern guitar plectrum. Unlike the modern guitar, the Arabic oud did not have any frets, allowing the player to access microtonal sounds not found in the 12 step Western scale. This instrument would prove to be extremely important to the modern guitar, as many instruments coming after it would take inspiration from the design of the Arabic oud.
As people travelled to different regions with their instruments, locals of different parts of the world created their own versions of these instruments played by foreigners which would form unique differences through different time periods and regions. These earlier guitars were strung with lower-tension gut strings.
While the exact origin of the guitar is unknown, the obvious predecessor of the modern guitar first appeared in Spain during the Renaissance era, typically strung with nylon strings. Variations of fretted instruments appear in cultures throughout history, and while some of these early instruments appear to have little in common with the modern guitar, they likely played a role in its evolution. These instruments would have been introduced in Europe as trade spread throughout the ancient world.
Most Renaissance-era guitars consisted of four courses of double strings, with a fifth course of double strings added in the late sixteenth century during the Baroque era. The guitar continued to develop over the next few centuries; the nineteenth century guitar (around 1800) had friction pegs instead of turning gears, and metal wound strings. Developments also included the addition of a sixth course of strings and guitar makers beginning to experiment with bracing techniques on the soundboards of these larger instruments. This bracing allowed the soundboards to withstand the string tension while still being able to vibrate freely and produce a rich sound. Spanish luthier Antonio de Torres used the best innovations of the time to create the guitar that would serve as the inspiration for all modern guitars.
In the early 1800’s, classical guitar maker Stauffer took on a new apprentice while making guitars in Vienna named C.F. Martin, who many know as the man who originally began Martin guitars, one of the more popular acoustic guitars of today. By the time German luthier C.F. Martin immigrated to the United States in 1833, the six string guitar with Torres’ bracing system was the most popular design. Martin created the first iteration of the modern steel string guitar, taking what he had learnt in Vienna with the classical guitar and giving it steel strings for more volume and projection. He also added an X bracing pattern on the inside of the body of the guitar, providing greater support to hold the steel strings in and making the instrument much more durable overall. Martin experimented widely with making different sections bigger and smaller to alter the sound and feel of the guitar. Martin improved on the Spanish design with his flat top guitars and the bracing system he developed in the 1850s is still used in the company’s steel-string guitars today. Steel-string guitars are designed to be played with a pick, rather than the fingers, and deliver a brighter and louder sound.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Orville Gibson began his own series of innovations in guitar design. In addition to making the popular flat top guitar, he also introduced the arch top acoustic guitar, based on the arched design of a violin.
During the first part of the twentieth century, guitars became bigger and louder. Martin’s dreadnought guitar, the largest body style, was initially unpopular when it debuted in 1916, considered too loud compared to other guitars of the time. Today however, it is one of the more popular models and is associated with country music.
The early twentieth century also saw the development of the electric guitar, which amplified sound significantly.
Due to the relatively late mass-popularity of the guitar in the twentieth century, popular designs for contemporary making are based around automated processes of manufacture, so that even genuinely hand made guitars are nevertheless informed by production processes that do not exist in the consideration of older bowed instruments.
The UK lacks a substantial guitar making history, at least not for the past one hundred years, In the 1970s there were only a handful of self-taught guitar makers; today there are over a hundred. Many makers today have studied at college but have not been trained in a commercial setting. College is often only the starting point of a long learning process, and some people leave college without the full set of skills needed to make guitars – the proper training tends to start once someone is in full time work. There is not nearly enough work for the quantity of college graduates – and even with hundreds of thousands of guitars, there isn’t a need for a great number of ‘guitar techs’.
Guitar making involves a range of woodworking and other craft techniques which are highly specialised and distinct from furniture making and carpentry in general.
Specific techniques include:
Skill in bending wood to make the sides of the instruments is very specific, whilst the craftsman has to develop a sculptural eye to work with the curves of the back and the belly, as well as specific knowledge of the acoustic properties of wood in order to create the best outcome for each instrument. Strict engineering principles are required in the process of ‘setup’, providing the factors that make the instrument playable. Lastly, the chemistry involved in producing varnishes that have the correct properties and that do not interfere with the acoustic potential of the instrument form a significant part of the violin maker’s skill.
Some practitioners combine making with restoration and dealing in antique instruments.
