Analysis of Historic and Modern Guitars

Abstract

This last chapter analyses and compares six different guitars—1921 Fleta, 1931 Simplicio, 1974 Gallinotti, 1982 Ramirez, 2011 Garrone and a replica (by Zontini) of a 1862 Torres. Measurements on the instruments and comments on relevant parameters were in line with the methods presented in the previous chapters, and a summary shows all the results in one table. The purpose of this chapter is twofold: at first to demonstrate how the key parameters discussed in the book can proficiently be used to assess an existing instrument, eventually to replicate its sounding characteristic; secondly to gain an understanding of the design criteria that guided a luthier in designing an existing instrument, and how certain criteria (and the underlying physical and geometrical parameters) evolved in the course of the years.