Theeleven-string alto guitar (also known asaltgitarr,archguitar, orBolin guitar) is anextended-range classical guitar developed by SwedishluthierGeorg Bolin in the 1960s.
Original Bolin instruments are now rare and valuable.[1] The Bolin alto guitar most often has eleven strings, but Bolin also made a thirteen-string version.
The 11-string alto guitar is amulti-string classical guitar, which generally refers toclassical guitars with more than six strings. Classical guitars with extra strings can have from seven to 13 or more strings.[2] However, an 11-string is the most useful for performinglute music, particularlyBach andWeiss. The first six strings are tuned in the same intervals as the normal classic guitar. Therefore, a musician can play with conventional fingering on those strings.
In the United States, luthier Walter Stanul makes performance instruments ranging from 11 to 13-strings called theArchguitar. The design and the body shape of this guitar is similar to thevihuela, and thus it is fundamentally different from the Bolin design.[3]
Georg Bolin first constructed 11-string alto guitar with collaboration with Swedish guitaristPer-Olof Johnson in the 1960s. Johnson is the teacher of a well-known guitaristGöran Söllscher who made this instrument famous through his extensive usage ofBolin's 11-string alto guitar.[4][5]
Johnson was fond oflute music, but the difference in playing techniques betweenguitar andlute is significant, and he was looking for a way to playlute music usingguitar playing technique. Thus, the design goal was specifically to allow guitarists to play renaissancelute music.
This design introduced two main elements. The first was to provide conventionallute tuning by tuning the first six strings aminor third higher (hence the name "alto guitar"). It is equivalent to putting acapo on the third fret of the normalprime guitar. The second element was to add five extra strings to accommodate low notes.
The typical 11-string alto guitar tuning is (from low to high strings): Bb1 C2 D2 Eb2 F2 G2 C3 F3 Bb3 D4 G4.[6]
Currentluthiers who build 11-string alto guitars, primarily located inSweden, includeHeikki Rousu andRoger StrömbergArchived 2009-08-03 at theWayback Machine.Ermanno Chiavi inSwitzerland is known for his 13-string guitar built forAnders Miolin, but he builds 11-string guitars as well.[7] Chiavi's guitar has the scale length of a normalclassical guitar, 650mm, and is tuned in the same manner asclassical guitar. Therefore, it is technically not an "alto" guitar.Yoshimitsu Hoshino inJapan built 11-string alto guitars with the same specification with Bolin's design in 1980s. However, he no longer makes them.[8] Based in Paris, Liberto Planas is considered as one of the leading experts of the 11-string guitar with more than 90 instruments with his signature.
Some of the guitarists who use the instrument are as follows:
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