Why Old Guitars Look Different: Ten Instruments Explain Strings, Bodies and Musical Design
ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS / THE INSTRUMENT The guitar was never one thing. Ten museum instruments. Paired strings, hidden supports, and lives changed by repair. NEWJINMEDIA · October 31, 2026 Guitar attributed to Matteo Sellas, Venice, about 1630–50. Its present condition includes later alteration and restoration. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.103. Public domain (CC0). Purchase, Clara Mertens Bequest, in memory of André Mertens, 1990 · Source · Rights A familiar instrument with an unfamiliar past Ten historic guitars reveal how string courses, hidden supports, adjustable necks and repairs shaped a familiar instrument. A guitar looks easy to recognize: a body with a waist, a neck with frets, and strings running toward a bridge. But recognizing the outline is not the same as understanding the instrument. In a museum collection, a guitar may have ten strings arranged as five pairs, a neck that changes angle with a key, or replacement parts that record a second life. The modern ex...