Longman & Broderip Keyed English Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This keyed English guitar was made by Longman & Broderip of London, England around 1783-1785. Francis Broderip joined James Longman around 1775 and the two were in business until 1798. This guitar is a six course (2x3, 2x2, 2x1) guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides. The guitar has a watch-key tuning mechanism, and a key mechanism that activates hammers inside the soundbox to strike the strings upwards through holes in the soundhole rose. This key mechanism was patented by London luthier, Christian Claus in 1783.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1783-1785
• maker: Longman & Broderip
• Object Name: english guitar
• Measurements: overall: 29 1/4 in x 12 1/4 in x 4 3/8 in; 74.295 cm x 31.115 cm x 11.1125 cm
• place made: United Kingdom: England, London
• ID Number: MI.324845
• accession number: 69366
• catalog number: 324845
• Credit Line: Gift of Catherine N. M. Rose
• 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.