My Portuguese Guitar!!

Look at what Santa dropped off this Christmas...

Isn't she beautiful!?! I don't know how to play much yet, (Diogo just taught me Marcha Marceneiro) so for now she serves as a decoration in my studio. It was purchased on Ebay of all places!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad, I mean Santa!!

The Portuguese guitar is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising of two strings each. It has a distinctive tuning mechanism. It is most notably associated with fado, although it has and is being used in a broader context.

History

The Portuguese guitar is presumed to be the localization of what is commonly known as the English guitar. Some researchers argue that a kind of cittern was being played in Portugal prior to and after the introduction of the English instrument and that the modern Portuguese guitar is a combination of both instruments. Although this possibility is not without credit more research needs to be done on the subject.

The English guitar (or guittar) was a small cittern that was fashionable between 1750 and 1790, most notably in the British Isles, closely related to other citterns that were being made in western Europe at the time (such as the instrument the French called the guitarre allemande) but with several particular specifications introduced by the English luthiers. The English cittern was brought by the English to Portugal, possibly circa 1750, through the trading activity held between the two countries at the time. This fact is observed by António da Silva Leite in 1786, who remarks in his method for the instrument the following: “The guitar, of which they say has its origins in Great-Britain...”; “Of the guitars from England, Mr. Simpson is the best maker.”. The local luthiers then proceed to imitate and copy the foreign instruments. Eventually, the instrument was subject to modifications and improvements through the years and it remained popular in Portugal long after the fad died in the remaining European countries. By as early as 1820 the English already referred to it as the “Portuguese guitar”.

Throughout the 19th century the Portuguese guitar was being made in several sizes and shapes and subject to several regional aesthetic trends. For instance, the guitars made in northern Portugal bore a greater similarity to the English guitars than the guitars made in southern Portugal. Circa 1870 the commonly used watch-key tuning mechanism, inherited from the English guitars, was replaced by the fan tuning mechanism which was an improvement on the former. A sizeable guitar making industry flourished in Coimbra by the late 19th century, propelled by the Portuguese guitar's popularity among the students of the city. Eventually the developments of the local luthiers led to the modern model, named after the city.

Over the first half of the 20th century the Portuguese guitar underwent standardization into two distinct models and enjoyed several technical improvements, such as the refinement of the tuning mechanism and the revision of its dimensions, retaining throughout the process, however, its overall appearance and distinct sound.

Coimbra VS Lisbon:

There are two distinct kinds of modern Portuguese guitar models — the Lisboa guitar and the Coimbra guitar.

The differences between the two guitars are their scale, body measurements and other finer construction details. Overall, the Coimbra guitar is of simpler construction than the Lisboa guitar.

Visually and most distinctively, the Lisboa guitar can be differentiated from the Coimbra guitar for its larger soundboard and scroll ornament above the tuning machine in place of Coimbra's teardrop shaped motif. The Lisboa guitar has a narrower neck, smaller string spacing and a slightly shorter scale.

Both guitars have a very distinct timbre - the Lisboa guitar has a resonant bell-like sound that the Coimbra guitar lacks; the Coimbra guitar has a more accentuated bass sound.

Technique

The technique employed to play the Portuguese guitar is what is historically called dedillo or dedilho. This technique comprises playing solely with the thumb and the index fingers. On the Portuguese guitar the strings are picked with the corner of the fingernails, avoiding contact of the flesh with the strings. The unused fingers of the picking hand rest below the strings, on the soundboard. Nowadays most players use synthetic materials in place of natural fingernails; these fingerpicks are usually made of plastic or tortoiseshell.