Gütter & Sons Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This guitar was made by H.F. Gütter & Sons of Markneukirchen, Germany around 1800-1850. It is a six course (6x1) guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides. Markneukirchen was the center of the Vogtland, Germany music industry for the export of musical instruments to the United States in the late 19th century – early 20th. The guitar bears the label: “H.F. Gütter & Söhne [/] in Neukirchen im Voigtland [/] a Sachsan.”

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1800 - 1850
• maker: H. F. Gutter & Sons
• Object Name: guitar
• Physical Description: spruce (top material)
• Physical Description: maple (back; sides material)
• Measurements: overall: 34 1/2 in x 11 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in; 87.63 cm x 29.21 cm x 8.89 cm
• place made: Germany: Saxony, Markneukirchen
• ID Number: MI.312916
• accession number: 64657
• catalog number: 312916
• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. J. Ryan Devereux
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.