Instrument at Monticello

[thistle3585]

I went on vacation with the family last week, and one of our stops was at Monticello. During the tour, the guide pointed out a "small guitar" used by Jefferson's daughter. It looked to be about the scale, and shape, of a mandolin but it had 5 courses vs. 4 and the uppermost pair of strings had a wider spread almost giving it a 6 string look. The tuners were threaded slides that were adjustable with an allen type wrench. I think that she dated it about 1790. Anyone have any clue to what it may be? I was a little put off by the guide, as I thought she should at least have an idea of what it is and its history if she was going to make the effort to point it out. I really wanted to take a photo of it, but wasn't allowed to do so.

[sunburst]

I took a visitor to Montecello last year, (it's just up the road from me) but I don't remember seeing the instrument. You never know, though. Sometimes things are removed for cleaning and stuff like that.
In defence of the guide, a friend of mine used to do that, and they are well meaning local people, and no particular expertise is required or expected of them.

I think it was a Cittern but I could be wrong. Take the virtual tour of Monticello here (http://explorer.monticello.org/index.html) and search under Objects and Furniture then Musical Instruments.

[allenhopkins]

Could easily be what was called an "English guitar" (probably to differentiate it from the "Spanish guitar," which is basically the modern guitar. Here's an example from a Dutch dealer, Palm Guitars:
English guitar by Wm. Gibson (http://www.palmguitars.nl/archives/tales/wgibson.html)
And note -- it's a Gibson! The dealer states that this instrument is one of the earliest (1760) to have "modern (worm gear) machineheads"; most of the 18th-century ones had the "watch key" tuners, similar in action to violin fine tuners, that you saw on the one at Monticello.

" A cittern or English Guitar made by William Gibson ca 1760"

That looks like the instrument listed on the website as a cittern. They only list two instruments in the virtual tour, a harpsichord and a cittern. There is mention that Jefferson played the violin but I don't think they have the instrument he played. I could be wrong on that one.

[thistle3585]

There are some similiariries to what I saw at Monticello. The headstock shape is similar but it did not have worm gear tuners. It did have a decorative carving in the soundhole. BTW, is there a name for the decorative piece in the soundhole or is it considered to be part of the rosette?

[Bob DeVellis]

I could be mistaken, but I assume that the sound-hole-filler is the reason that we call the bands around soundholes "rosettes." In other words, (if my theory is correct) these elaborate pieces were more likely to bring a little rose to mind and thus were called rosettes. As they atrophied into a series of bands around the soundhole, the name stuck. But this is just a guess on my part.

[JimD]

I have seen the instrument (a few years back) -- it is certainly an English guitar (also called a cittern).

Jefferson played violin. His wife and daughters played harpsichord and guitar. The family owned music for both English guitar and Spanish guitar. The early 19th century saw the waning of interest in the English guitar and the rise of the Spanish guitar in America.

Jefferson also gives an early description of the banjo in his writings -- he calls it the instrument "proper" to the Africans of Virginia and compares its tuning to that of the English guitar.

[JimD]

OK -- checked my notes.

It is believed that the English guitar that is at Monticello is an instrument that Jefferson bought for his granddaughter, Virginia Randolph Trist. It was given to Monticello by one of her descendants.

The banjo description and reference to guitar tuning:

In his "Notes on the State of Virginia' (1782), Jefferson says "The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they brought hither from Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, its chords being precisely the four lower chords of the guitar,"

This statement needs a bit of sorting out. The "guitar" mentioned would be the English guitar which was tuned CEGceg. We don't know if "lower" meant lower in pitch or lower in position (physically under or below).

As for the banjar being the "original of the guitar".... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[John Goodin]

Rob MacKillop (who calls this instrument the “eighteenth-century wire-strung guittar”) and Doc Rossi (who prefers "cittern") are both experts in this area. You can find pages for both Rob and Doc at this site: http://www.musicintime.co.uk/

I've done some work with James Oswald's music for "guittar" and you can get some free sheet music here: http://academic.luther.edu/~goodinjo/oswald/oswald18.htm

You'll also find a link to a longish article I wrote on Oswald at that page. I highly recommend Rob MacKillop's CD recording Oswald's 12 Divertimenti if you want to hear the nice sound this kind of instrument can make when played by an expert.

John Goodin