1. Baroque Guitar, Sellas, 5-course, Taylor
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Product Description
The 5-course guitar designed by Zachary Taylor is based on instruments made by Giorgio Sellas. One in
particular, which may be seen in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, was made in 1627. It was examined and
measured for the purpose of producing a representation of this exquisite instrument. Another example in the
same museum was chosen as the basis for another Baroque guitar; it was made by René Voboam. An
important feature of the Sellas design is the arched back which, similar to the lute, constructed of strips
tapered at each end to produce the coopered effect. Alternating woods with ebony fillets separating them
creates a distinctive appearance characteristic of this maker's work. Some modifications were made to the
original design including the reduction of inlaid decoration, the inclusion of which, in the designer's opinion,
made no contribution to the function of the guitar and it might even have been detrimental to the tone and
volume it produced. Attention was paid to the basic construction and materials to bring about a faithful
representation of this beautiful guitar. The term 'Baroque' is one of convenience that musicologists and
historians use to place the chronological development of the guitar in a particular period, taken to be from early
17th to late 18th century. The word 'course', when used in the guitaristic sense, refers usually to more than one
single string. A course is usually two strings, but may be three on certain instruments. Typical string
arrangements for the Baroque guitar were 5 double-string courses; in some cases the pairs were tuned in
unison and others in octaves, similar to its ancestors the lute and vihuela. It is not uncommon to use just a
single string for the highest course, like the Renaissance lute. This may well have been a tradition imposed due
to the difficulty in producing a matched pair in the small diameter string material. The hi Read more
