René Lacôte – 1840

Description

René Lacôte (1785 – after 1868) Joseph Pon’s apprentice never tired to try to meet the needs of musicians regarding sound and playability. His innovations concerned: the struts and the “butterfly” pegs, for which he studied various designs, applying the neck-heel joint, as learned from Pons, the tuning mechanisms, that enabled the musician to tune the instrument with only one hand, the joint of the head, the solid mahogany or maple neck as well as the joint of the neck into the upper block

Lacôte was always sensitive to the needs of musicians and composers, the best known of whom dominated the “musical life” of Paris at that time. Lacôte carried on his work at various addresses, in the same quarter as his violin-maker colleagues Vuillaume, Chanot and Gand, very close to the Music Conservatory. He used at least three successive brands. He won awards in 1839 and 1844 during the Great National Exhibitions. His working life may be summed up as follows: Before 1818 he worked for Pons. About 1819 he was in rue Montmartre, where he took over the workshop from his colleague Martin. Later he moved to other locations in Paris. About 1843 he was still in rue de Louvois while also managing a shop in Ebury Street (London), starting the company “Lacôte & Cie”. In about 1850 he was in rue des Martyrs where he worked until 1868 at least. This guitar has a satinwood back that is laminated with spruce. The sides are made of solid satinwood. The neck is made of solid maple. The machine-heads are from the same period but not original. This Lacôte is fully playable and in very good condition.