Head of 11-string alto guitar by Heikki Rousu

The eleven-string alto guitar (also known as altgitarr, archguitar, or Bolin guitar) is an extended-range classical guitar developed by Swedish

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

Georg Bolin in the 1960s. Original Bolin instruments are now rare and valuable. The Bolin alto guitar most often has eleven strings, but Bolin also made a thirteen-string version. The 11-string alto guitar is a '' multi-string classical guitar'', which generally refers to

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

s with more than six strings. Classical guitars with extra strings can have from seven to 13 or more strings. However, an 11-string is the most useful for performing

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

music, particularly

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

and Weiss. The first six strings are tuned in the same intervals as the normal classic guitar. Therefore, a musician can play with conventional fingering on those strings. In the United States, luthier Walter Stanul makes performance instruments ranging from 11 to 13-strings called th
Archguitar
The design and the body shape of this guitar is similar to the

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

, and thus it is fundamentally different from the Bolin design.

History

Georg Bolin first constructed 11-string alto guitar with collaboration with Swedish guitarist Per-Olof Johnson in the 1960s. Johnson is the teacher of a well-known guitarist

Göran Söllscher Göran Söllscher (born 31 December 1955) is a Sweden, Swedish award-winning virtuoso classical guitarist known for his broad range of musical interpretations, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach to the Beatles. Söllscher's international ca ...

who made this instrument famous through his extensive usage of Bolin's 11-string alto guitar.

Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...

was fond of

music, but the difference in playing techniques between

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

is significant, and he was looking for a way to play lute music using guitar playing technique. Thus, the design goal was specifically to allow guitarists to play renaissance lute music. This design introduced two main elements. The first was to provide conventional lute tuning by tuning the first six strings a

minor third In music theory, a minor third is a interval (music), musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval (music)#Number, interval numb ...

higher (hence the name "alto guitar"). It is equivalent to putting a capo on the third fret of the normal prime guitar. The second element was to add five extra strings to accommodate low notes.

Tuning

The typical 11-string alto guitar tuning is (from low to high strings): Bb1 C2 D2 Eb2 F2 G2 C3 F3 Bb3 D4 G4.

Makers

Current

s who build 11-string alto guitars, primarily located in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, includ
Heikki Rousu
an
Roger StrömbergErmanno Chiavi
in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

is known for his 13-string guitar built for Anders Miolin, but he builds 11-string guitars as well. Chiavi's guitar has the scale length of a normal

, 650mm, and is tuned in the same manner as

. Therefore, it is technically not an "alto" guitar.
Yoshimitsu Hoshino
in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

built 11-string alto guitars with the same specification with Bolin's design in 1980s. However, he no longer makes them.''Hoshino guitar no longer takes order for 11-string alto guitar''
Hoshino Guitar Based in Paris, Liberto Planas is considered as one of the leading experts of the 11-string guitar with more than 90 instruments with his signature.

Performers

Some of the guitarists who use the instrument are as follows: *

* Peder Riis * Paulo Martelli * Kozo Kanatani * Andreas Koch * Moran Wasser

References

External links