BALDOSA - PLUCKED VIHUELA
It is a series of plucked chordophones with a medium or long neck, with a setup ranging from 2 strings to 4 double courses. Its name is confusing, since different instruments from the same period and with very similar characteristics received different names: mandola, bandora, pandura or vihuela de peñola (plucked vihuela), among others.
BANDURRIA IN CANTIGA 150
The Moorish guitar or bandurria is a chordophone with a short neck that has a round belly and a sickle-shaped headstock. It is named on numerous occasions in the Cantigas de Santa María by Alfonso X El Sabio (1275), such as this one, and so does Johannes de Grocheo (around 1300) where he calls it "quitarra sarracénica".
Some authors consider it a hybrid between the Latin guitar and the medieval lute. In the representations it appears played with the fingers or with a plectrum.
I make this reproduction with 3 courses by carving and hollowing a single block of linden, to which I graft a pegbox made of birch, finished off with a carving that represents the sweet Maya, who was the inseparable companion of my friends Emilio and Sara. The soundboard is made of goatskin and is finished with oil and wax.
SL: 500mm.
Proposed tuning: g-d'd'-g'g'
Price: €1,950.
Some authors consider it a hybrid between the Latin guitar and the medieval lute. In the representations it appears played with the fingers or with a plectrum.
I make this reproduction with 3 courses by carving and hollowing a single block of linden, to which I graft a pegbox made of birch, finished off with a carving that represents the sweet Maya, who was the inseparable companion of my friends Emilio and Sara. The soundboard is made of goatskin and is finished with oil and wax.
SL: 500mm.
Proposed tuning: g-d'd'-g'g'
Price: €1,950.
BALDOSA IN CANTIGA 120
This instrument with 4 double courses has certain similarities with some chordophones from North Africa, such as the sintir or the gimbri, due to its skin soundboard and its large size. The result of my interpretation is an instrument with a very low register and a nasal timbre, but with great projection.
The body is carved and hollowed out from a single piece of cypress with a walnut fingerboard. The soundboard is made of goatskin. It is strung with lamb gut and finished with oil and wax.
SL: 750mm.
Proposed tuning: C-G-c-g
Price: €1,950
The body is carved and hollowed out from a single piece of cypress with a walnut fingerboard. The soundboard is made of goatskin. It is strung with lamb gut and finished with oil and wax.
SL: 750mm.
Proposed tuning: C-G-c-g
Price: €1,950
VIHUELA IN CANTIGA 130
This other plucked vihuela with 3 strings is based on the miniature of the Cantiga de Sta. María nº 130 (1275).
The body was carved and hollowed from a single piece of cherry, with goatskin soundboard. It was strung with gut and finished with oil and wax.
SL: 630mm.
Proposed tuning: d-a-d'
Weight: ±800gr.
Price: €1700
The body was carved and hollowed from a single piece of cherry, with goatskin soundboard. It was strung with gut and finished with oil and wax.
SL: 630mm.
Proposed tuning: d-a-d'
Weight: ±800gr.
Price: €1700
