A guitalin () is a Northern American

folk instrument A folk instrument is a traditional musical instrument that has remained largely restricted to traditional folk music, and is not usually used in the classical music or other elite and formal musical genres of the culture concerned, though relate ...

that is a part of the

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 ...

family, having four

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

. Its fourth course is tuned to an octave while the remaining courses are tuned in unisons. The instrument can be either finger picked or plucked with a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

. It was invented in October 1962 by Lyle Mayfield of

Greenville, Illinois : Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, east of St. Louis. The population as of the 2020 census was 7,083, up from 7,000 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bond County. Greenville is part of the St. Louis ...

.Daily Illini (University of Illinois), Saturday, November 10, 1962, p.

/ref>Daily Illini (University of Illinois), Friday, September 20, 1963, p.

/ref> The guitalin is a non-traditional, hybrid folk instrument, as it incorporates features of multiple traditional folk instruments into one. While the original tuning consisted of a G major, G chord in

root position The root position of a chord (music), chord is the Voicing (music), voicing of a Triad (music), triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the root (chord), root of the chord is the bass note and the other chord factors are above it. In the ro ...

, the standard tuning of the guitalin which was adopted is a C chord in

second inversion The second Inverted chord, inversion of a Chord (music), chord is the Voicing (music), voicing of a Triad (music), triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the fifth (chord), fifth of the chord is the bass note. In this inversion, the bass ...

. Another common tuning is a second inversion G chord. The

timbre In music, timbre (), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes sounds according to their source, such as choir voices and musical instrument ...

or tone quality of the guitalin can be described as a combination between a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

and a

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, while the name of the instrument is derived from the combination of the names of the guitar and mandolin. The shape of the body of the instrument is an elongated trapezoid about the length of a standard

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 ...

body. From the time it was invented until Mayfield's death in 2012, there was much experimentation with several configurations of instruments based on the guitalin and guinjo (another of Mayfield's inventions). Among these experiments were the fretted fiddle or "friddle" or "guiddle", an 8-string fiddle, the dobrolin, the triplin (an instrument Mayfield disliked, recorded once, then scrapped), an electric (

solid body Sound sample of solid-body electric guitar. A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect the vibra ...

) guitalin, and even a full-sized, upright guitalin bass. Other notable Mayfield instruments include the guinjo (1974), a bass mandolin (1974), the Coffee Can Lid Banjo (1974), a Commodophone (a spoof instrument using a toilet seat for a top), the Echo Guitar (1992), the Mayfield Guitar (1998), the Mariachi bass (1998), a variation on the hard-top banjo (2006), the Mayfield Pear Guitars (2005), a variation on the

Manjo Manjo is a town and commune in Cameroon. See also *Communes of Cameroon The Divisions of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. They are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each province (now Regions). ...

(2006), the Round Cornered Guitalin (Martin Smith, 2006), the Round Head Guitars (Martin Smith, 2007), and variations on the

Mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

(2008) and the

Dreadnought Guitar The dreadnought is a type of acoustic guitar developed by American guitar manufacturer C.F. Martin & Company. The style, since copied by other guitar manufacturers, has become one of the most common for acoustic guitars. In its most frequently ...

(2008).

Tuning

There are several ways a guitalin is tuned. The most common tuning is a second inversion C chord with the

of 2 adjacent strings tuned in unison with the lowest course (4th course) tuned an octave apart. This common tuning is GCEG. * fourth course (lowest tone of 4th course): G3 ( Hz), fourth course (highest tone of 4th course): G4 ( Hz) * third course: C4 ( Hz) * second course: E4 ( Hz;) * first course: G4 ( Hz) Secondary Tuning (original tuning): * fourth course (lowest tone of 4th course): G3 ( Hz), fourth course (highest tone of 4th course): G4 ( Hz) * third course: B3 ( Hz) * second course: D4 ( Hz;) * first course: G4 ( Hz) Other tunings used in recordings include a root position G chord, and root position F chord, and even the standard ukulele tuning of G-C-E-A.

History

The instrument was invented by Lyle Mayfield of Greenville, Illinois. It was originally conceived as a toy instrument in October 1962 for his 3-year-old son, Layne Mayfield, when he asked for a guitar to play. Lyle was known for designing and building hybrid folk instruments which combined two or three instrument features into a single instrument. In Lyle's personal writings discovered after his death, he describes the origins of the guitalin as follows:

"I decided to build a toy instrument for him to play with. In my workshop I had some 1/4” mahogany wall paneling, some banjo parts, some mandolin parts, and some pine wood from a packing crate. From these components I fashioned a simple instrument that was somewhat wedge-shaped. Using a mandolin set of machine heads and a mandolin bridge I strung it with four sets of duals over a guitar sized fingerboard. While building the instrument, I realized that if I just left it untuned my small son would be beating on a dischordant set of strings. I decided to tune it to an open chord...G."

Lyle goes on further to say in his writings that "when etuned the instrument up the sound was so impressive edecided to keep it as a working instrument. It was at that time that Layne lost his instrument." A few notable

folk musician Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has bee ...

s have played the instrument and have found it noteworthy. Among these are

Jimmy Driftwood James Corbitt Morris (June 20, 1907 – July 12, 1998), known professionally as Jimmy Driftwood or Jimmie Driftwood, was an American folk music, folk-style songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans (song), ...

(composer of "

The Battle of New Orleans "The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood in 1936. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; it tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical v ...

" and "

Tennessee Stud "Tennessee Stud" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood, who originally recorded and released it in 1959. "Tennessee Stud" is considered to be Driftwood's most recorded song. Synopsis The song tells a story about the adventures of a man and his h ...

"),

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winner

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. He won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His ...

and The Bray Brothers, who featured the Mayfield guitalin on their album "Prairie Bluegrass" on the tune "Barbara Allen" from the label

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

, originally recorded in 1962 for WHOW radio in Clinton, Illinois. Recordings of these musicians playing or remarking on the instrument are available upon request from the family archives. Mayfield collection

In the 1960s, Lyle and Doris Mayfield were involved in the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

Campus Folksong Club and were associated with

Archie Green Archie Green (June 29, 1917 – March 22, 2009) was an American folklorist specializing in laborlore (defined as the special folklore of workers) and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commented ...

during that time. In the mid-1960s, Lyle was credited for bringing the native music of Illinois to the Campus Folksong Club and appeared on recordings that the club produced, including the "Green Fields of Illinois" record. He and Doris regularly appeared in performances held by the Folksong Club, commonly referred to as "folk sings". They also volunteered their time and talents to perform for other events and venues. In 1976, Lyle and Doris Mayfield, along with their son Layne, were invited by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

to represent Southern Illinois at the American Bicentennial

Smithsonian Folklife Festival The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the Fo ...

. It was at this event that they had a good opportunity to showcase some of their unique folk instruments; namely the guitalin and guinjo. Throughout most of the 1970s, the Mayfields devoted much time to preserving traditional southern Illinois music and folklore. Additionally, they were the founders and principle sponsors of the annual Southern Illinois Folk Convention in the early 1970s. Mayfield Instruments is currently operated by Lyle's youngest grandson, Nathan Smith, who continues to produce them out of Dallas, Texas. Several guitalins and guinjos were produced between the years of 2005 and 2008 as a team effort between Lyle Mayfield and his then-apprentice Martin Smith (unrelated to Nathan Smith). Instruments produced during this 3 year window contain an internal badge which reads "LyMar - Instruments Built By Hand With Love".

Modern use

In the summer of 2013, the instrument was discovered by indie folk musician

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

, who contacted Nathan Smith, Lyle's youngest grandson and current owner of Mayfield Instruments, to inquire about having one built. On March 31, 2015, Sufjan released the album

Carrie & Lowell ''Carrie & Lowell'' is the seventh studio album by American musician Sufjan Stevens. It was released on March 31, 2015, by Asthmatic Kitty. It was produced by Stevens, and features guest contributions from Thomas Bartlett, Sean Carey, Ca ...

, which features Mayfield guitalin LMN-2. In April 2015, Sufjan began a tour for the album, with two Mayfield guitalins making an appearance. This marks the first use of a guitalin on a major record since 1964, when ''The Bray Brothers'' featured guitalin number 1 on the song "Barbara Allen", from their album "Prairie Bluegrass", released under Rounder Records (0053). On October 6th, 2023 Stevens released his album

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

, which features Mayfield's first carbon fiber guitalin on the intro to the track "Will Anybody Ever Love Me", and guitalin LMN-2 on the Neil Young cover "There's A World", accompanied by ukulele. Other tracks by Stevens that utilize the guitalin are "Death with Dignity", "City of Roses", "Fireproof", and "Kiss of Niobe".

References

External links

* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007 interview with Lyle Mayfield, transcrip

* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007 interview with Lyle Mayfield, audi

* Campus Folksong Club, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaig

* The First Annual Arkansas Folk Festival Recorded in Mountain View, AR April 19–20, 196

* The First Annual Arkansas Folk Festival 1963, "Wildwood Flower" played by Lyle Mayfiel

* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "Autoharp" periodical, March 196

* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "Autoharp" periodical, February 196

* Mayfield Instruments Websit

* Pitchfork, Monday, February 16, 2015, "True Myth: A Conversation With Sufjan Stevens", by Ryan Dombal

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402032450/http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9595-true-myth-a-conversation-with-sufjan-stevens/ , date=April 2, 2015 String instruments