Bass-cittern
between 1580 and 1596 | anonym
The body of this fantastically designed instrument with its flat back is reminiscent of the cittern, while the use of gut strings is characteristic of the instrument family of lutes. A fundamental problem of all string instruments is the fact that the bass strings should be considerably longer than the descant strings. Although this was taken into account in the design of this instrument, the resulting situation for the fingers of the left hand is highly unusual. As we can see from the irregular positioning of frets, the finger position for the same interval is different for all strings. (bd)
The body of this fantastically designed instrument with its flat back is reminiscent of the cittern, while the use of gut strings is characteristic of the instrument family of lutes. A fundamental problem of all string instruments is the fact that the bass strings should be considerably longer than the descant strings. Although this was taken into account in the design of this instrument, the resulting situation for the fingers of the left hand is highly unusual. As we can see from the irregular positioning of frets, the finger position for the same interval is different for all strings. (bd)
Manufacturer:
anonym
Time:
between 1580 and 1596
Object Name
Bass-cittern
Culture
Germany (?)
Dimensions:
1800 mm x 570 mm x 200 mm
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente
Invs.
Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, 55
Alte Inv.Nr.:
KK_4051
Schlosser Nr.:
A 60