Vihuela, Zachary Taylor

Vihuela, Zachary Taylor

Item Description

Zachary Taylor has based his stunning Vihuela design on the instrument that is displayed in the Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesús in Quito, Ecuador. A truly remarkable piece, it is thought to be a relic of Saint Mariana de Jesús.
Very few existing Vihuelas are known of but the most famous one is the so-called, ‘Guadalupe’ Vihuela in the Musée Jacquemart-André, in Paris. It was probably made around 1500 by an apprentice luthier or cabinet maker as a test piece. Comparatively large, with a narrow neck suggests that whilst appropriate for playing single-note continuo, it would not be suitable for solo performance repertoire or accompanying a vocalist.

Although the body of the Vihuela was shallower and lighter than the modern guitar, the scale length was often much longer. The strings were of gut and silk and the frets, which were tied around the neck, were also of gut. Tied frets represent a strong reference to the original instrument but are sometimes troublesome. Changes in humidity, temperature, and clumsy handling can cause changes in the fret location, making replacement difficult for an inexperienced player. For these reasons, the designer, maker and suppliers decided on metal frets as a standard feature. Customers who prefer the more traditional tied frets may request them to be fitted when an order is placed.

With six ‘courses’ of strings, the Vihuela has them arranged in pairs and these are usually tuned in unison, although variations were known that used ‘octave’ tuning on the lower-pitched strings, similar to the lute. When used in the musical sense, the word ‘course’, refers to more than one single string and possibly as many as three.

Music for the Vihuela was written in tablature, as stave notation was not used for fretted strings in those days. Tablature works well, provided the tuning of the strings is known. Many players prefer tablature as a music reading medium because the composer shows the string and fret where the note is located.

Much of the lute repertoire may be played on it, due to its similar interval string tuning. A bonus is that by tuning up the third course by a semitone, the Vihuela has the same intervals as the regular 6-stringed guitar — the repertoire of which spans about the last two-and-a-half centuries! It can also be used to play music intended for the Renaissance, Baroque and Romantic guitar, all-in-all, a most versatile instrument.

For reliability and security of intonation, this 6-course Vihuela is fitted with eight, fixed, solid nickel silver frets. For the more traditional players, these instruments are available with tied nylon frets which are adjustable to the player's preference.