There are 3000 year-old stone carvings depicting stringed instruments being played. The modern guitar was preceded from the 12th thru 18th Centuries by the lute, the vihuela, the four-course Renaissance guitar, and the five-course baroque guitar, all of which contributed to the development of the modern six-string instrument. Modern dimensions for the classical (gut/nylon strung) instrument were established by the Spaniard Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817–1892) & have stuck very close to those ideals.
     The more strongly built steel-string was developed in the 1840s by German-American luthiers of whom C.F. Martin is the best known. Originally used on gut-strung instruments, the strength of the system allowed the guitar to withstand the additional tension when steel strings appeared in the early 20th century. Many variations in size, shape & sound allowed & inspired the development of folk, country, bluegrass, pop, jazz, blues & rock music. Even more sound variations came ringing out of archtop, resophonic and early electric steel-string guitars developed during the Golden Age of Guitars (& pretty much everything else), the 1920’s to late 1930’s. The Post WWII years, the 50’s & 60’s, propelled Guitar forward as the most popular & expressive instrument in the World!

     So, that’s how we arrived on this web-page. But remember, as John Lennon said,
“Before Elvis…there was nothing.”

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