Keyed guitar
The keyed guitar (English for: keyboard guitar, Italian: chitarra a pianoforte) is an instrument designed by a German in London , presumably Christian Clauss , which, in addition to all the usual components of a guitar, is equipped with a hammer construction below the strings. There are also buttons on the body with which the hammers can be operated.
There is an associated hammer and key per string . Normally there are therefore six hammers and buttons. Various designs are known for transferring the key movement to the hammers.
The simplest method of striking the strings is achieved by a tilting movement, which is triggered by pressing down the button and leads to an upward movement of the parallel hammers arranged next to each other. This mechanism is characterized by its simple construction and the associated unproblematic replacement of the individual components. In addition, such a keyboard guitar can be played in any position and is not influenced by the different positions of the instrumentalist.
In a very complicated variant, several rods that are assigned to a string are set in rotation by pressing the button. A cable pull is used and the hammer parts are floating. As a result, the guitar cannot be played in every position.
There are both electric guitars and acoustic guitars with hammer constructions.
literature
- Curt Sachs : Real Lexicon of Musical Instruments. Julius Bard, Berlin 1913.