Guitarra septima
Maker
Mariano Fernandez
Date1880-1890 ca.
Place MadeMexico City, Mexico, North America
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on oval paper label with double-line border: M. FERNANDEZ FTE. DE GUITARRAS [written in black ink: Olea] / [In double-line circle: MEDALLA / DE / BRONCE / 1857.] [In double-line circle: MEDALLA / DE ORO / 1871.] [In double-line circle: MEDALLA / DE / PLATA / 1859.] / CALLA DE CHICONAUTLA / JUNTO AL NUMERO 25.MarkingsWritten in pencil on top brace below soundhole, visible through soundhole: Olea
DescriptionThis guitar is sumptuously decorated with three colors of abalone, bird’s-eye-maple veneer, nickel-silver wire inlay, and green and black mineral pigments. Little is known about its maker, whose few surviving guitars exemplify the highest level of Mexican instrument making in the nineteenth century. The guitarra septima was an ancestor of the modern 12-string guitar.
Stringing: seven courses of steel strings
Soundboard: four-piece spruce, fine grain
Back: wide-grained spruce cut off the quarter, veneered with bird’s-eye-maple
Ribs: two-piece wide-grained spruce cut off the quarter, veneered with bird’s-eye-maple, divided by black mastic with maple and ebony purfling strips and floral abalone inlay
Head: slotted, veneered with engraved abalone floral inlay
Neck: unknown wood veneered with mahogany; five abalone bands inlaid on neck
Heel cap: abalone
Binding: floral abalone pieces set into black and green mastic with rounged edge; floral abalone trim set into black mastic trimmed with maple and ebony purfling trim on top; purfling trim only on back
Fingerboard: ebony inlaid with large, engraved abalone plaques with maple, ebony, and abalone geometric trim along edges; full 13 frets under all strings, 17 frets under top two courses only; diagonal area between filled with inlaid abalone, and nickel-silver floral design with red-ink-filled engraved lines
Nut: abalone with ebony veneer on ends
Bridge: maple veneered with ebony and mother-of-pearl in imitation of banner ending in floral mother-of-pearl and abalone down-turned moustaches
Tuners: two sets of decoratively stamped nickel-silver worm-gear machine tuners with nickel-silver rollers and ebony heads with abalone faces
Endpin: long, turned mother-of-pearl
String holders: strings looped on bone pins with floral heads and abalone eyes
Rosette: floral mother-of-pearl abalone trim set into black mastic trimmed with maple and ebony purfling trim
Finish: golden
Linings: spruce; wide; smaller spruce lining with grain running perpendicular to plane of top and back above larger strip
Neck block: maple laminated from multiple pieces; rounded edges
End block: spruce; wide, shallow
Top braces: five tapered spruce ladder braces, two at upper bouts, one at center, and two at lower; no bridge plate originally; bridge pins extend through top between the two lower bout braces
Back braces: three spruce back braces, tapered and set into linings
DimensionsTotal guitar length: 1029 mm
Back length: 458 mm
Upper bout width: 222 mm
Waist width: 169 mm
Lower bout width: 297 mm
Rib height (including edging) at heel: 86 mm
Rib height, at waist: 97 mm
Rib height, at end block: 101 mm
Head length: 245 mm
Head width, top: 79 mm
Head width, bottom: 71 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 317 mm
Neck width, nut: 54 mm
Neck width, heel: 62 mm
Soundhole diameter: 81 mm
Vibrating string length (nut to bridge edge): 638 mm
ProvenancePurchased at Christies Fine Musical Instruments Auction, October 2011
Purchase funds gift of Tom and CIndy Lillibridge, Bonesteel, SD, 2011
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Tom and Cindy Lillibridge, 2011
Object number14615
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