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Around the turn of the 20th century, most guitars were gut strung and quite small. Even the Spanish guitars of that time, which were considered to be the largest, were in fact smaller than those of the 1950s and 60s. The steel string guitars of that time were often even smaller. Orville Gibson, who focussed on steel strings quite early, did build a 17” ( 432 mm) wide guitar in 1896, but the majority of steel string guitars were no wider than 15” (382mm). The Martin company introduced its 000 12 fret model in 1904. At 15” wide, this was their biggest guitar and was still mainly gut strung. It is about the same size as a modern classical guitar although slightly longer and shallower in the body. The older, smaller bodied guitars endured through the decades after the 1920’s when the bigger steel strings emerged, many players discovered a preference for them. They tend to suit fingerstyle players and are more effecient in projecting the treble frequencies, making them a first choice for melodic players in jazz, blues and Celtic styles.
Nowadays many makers build as many small to medium sized guitars as larger ones and the current range of sizes is greater than ever. My models are listed below. Each has its own page.
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