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Instruments like this inspire me like no other:

http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Sellas/3385/MatteoSellasGuitar.html



Anybody else feel the same way?

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Too busy, too fussy, too much going on. That was the taste back in the high Baroque. Less lavishly decorated models did exist and look nicer for it. IMO.

Well is like dis, Padma sure can appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship.

Does it inspire me?...Sorry, not a chance.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I don't care so much about lavish. It's the soul of the instrument that I see. It's okay if you don't.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Well thank you for according me my privilege to see things as me chooses. Now woulden't it be nice if everyone on the planet could do that eh!

Now regarding this here "Soul"? You talking about that mystical mumbo jumbo religious stuff here? ...Just asking.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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This is the soul of the instrument, as played by the masterful P.O. Dette. Those metal headbangers can't compete with this stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCAJpL3XMMw

This one's more my style:



Nothing religious for me.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

He's OK but nowhere near in the same class as P.O Dette. Has to be said. There are two greats (of early Lute/baroque Guitar) that have come out of the US in the last 30 years or so - O'Dette, the other being this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8SZR46Gn0k

19th Century guitars do it for me.

Old instruments, like this in particular, remind me of this:

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Just the style of baroque guitars, ornate or not.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I love the balance of simplicity and ornament in this baroque guitar (by Stradivarius).

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Yes, that amount of decoration is more to my taste. I've done them reasonably ornate and a few to that simpler degree of embellishment. That one says 'play me', the other says 'don't touch'. Something like that.

I am also not a fan of the garishly ornate instruments but I love to sit down and attempt to play Gaspar Sans or Luis de Milán any day.

"This is the soul of the instrument, as played by the masterful P.O. Dette. Those metal headbangers can't compete with this stuff."

I heard a radio interview several years ago, in which O'Dette said that he had actually started out as a rock player. He took some lessons with a jazz guitarist to learn about more complex harmonies, then got interested in Classical guitar to improve his technique, and found that it was the stuff in the first part of the program that really appealed to him. He said most of the lute players started out that way, and proceeded to play some rock music on his lute.

It doesn't look very well made. It's all falling apart.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Sorry, too busy for me.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Occasionally, I see a piece of really intricate craftsmanship that is so well executed it inspires me to try to be a better craftsman.
I see these details of intricate craftsmanship in furniture as often as in musical instruments. And in another of my interests--vintage shotguns. Art does that for me, too. Whether I like the painting overall or I don't, I often find details which inspire me to be a better painter. But what REALLY knocks me out is seeing a design that is just so perfect in its proportions and execution that it screams "beauty" with little or no adornment other than the materials from which it is made. Too often, I see instruments that are (to my personal taste) over-adorned. I think it's probably harder to design and build a beautiful and perfect PLAIN instrument, because there's nothing there to camouflage the imperfections. Those are the ones that leave me sort of slack-jawed with admiration. But, yes, I do appreciate the craftsmanship that went into your example. I appreciate it very much.