Preston English Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History
Preston English Guitar: Date made: 1760 - 1770. maker: Preston, John. Object Name: guitar.
The object in the museum catalogue
This guitar was made by John Preston of London, England around 1760-1770. It is a six course (4x2, 2x1) guitar with a spruce top, figured maple back and sides, and tortoiseshell veneered oak fingerboard and four holes for the capotasto or “moving-bridge.” The guitar has a watch-key tuning device which was better suited to the guitar’s short metal strings. English guitars received great popularity with amateur musicians in Great Britain from about 1750 to 1810.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date made: 1760 - 1770
- maker: Preston, John
- Object Name: guitar
- Object Name: english guitar
- Physical Description: maple (overall material)
- Physical Description: tortoise shell (finger board material)
- Physical Description: metal (frets material)
- Physical Description: brass (head material)
- Physical Description: steel (wires material)
- Measurements: overall: 27 3/8 in x 11 1/2 in x 4 1/2 in; 69.5325 cm x 29.21 cm x 11.43 cm
- place made: United Kingdom: England, London
- ID Number: MI.095325
- accession number: 26512
- catalog number: 95325
- 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.
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