Anonymous Romantic guitar – ca. 1920 10 strings

Description

What a lovely romantic guitar! This ten-string anonymous instrument, also called contra-guitar, was most probably built in Germany in the 1920s. Yet, one grasps a very strong influence of the French school of romantic guitar making, as illustrated by the bridge with dotted mustaches and the elegant blank and white purflings and rosette. This guitar’s condition is also incredible, with only one tiny 3 cm crack on the soundboard, a repaired hairline crack on the head, and rare playing marks. It is in perfect playing condition, the frets are smooth, and it is an extremely easy to play guitar for the left hand.
If you have read the specs and looked at the pictures, you will surely have noticed that the back and sides are made of maple yet look like Brazilian rosewood! This fun feature was common at the time as Brazilian rosewood was very sought after but tremendously hard to become at a reasonable price. Therefore, Luthiers started painting the maple with a darker color and imitating the rosewood’s beautiful grain.

This guitar sounds very open with a genuinely romantic sound. What does romantic sound like? Warm, sweet, and with a lot of “depth” in the tone. The sympathetic resonances when playing this instrument are fascinating and give an extra dimension to the sound. Moreover, the four extra bass strings offer the guitarist endless new accompaniment possibilities.