The tradition of the ten-string guitar
Although there have been many ten-string plucked instruments throughout history, such as the decacorde in the romantic eras, and the baroque 10-course lute, the modern ten-string guitar originated in the early 1960’s from a collaboration between guitar builder Jose Ramirez III and Narciso Yepes.
Left: Chitarrone/therobo in The Duet by Jan Molenaer, c. 1630. Right: Theorbo held by Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth, in a painting attributed to John de Critz, c. 1620. From earlymusicmuse.com.
1830 décacorde by René Lacote, at Cité de la Musique, Paris.
In order to bring more resonance to and volume to the guitar, Jose Ramirez and Yepes added an additional 4 strings (10=F#, 9=G#, 8=A#, 7=Conta C).
With this tuning, all 12 chromatic notes are available to sympathetic resonance, and thanks to the lower 7th string, music such as the lute works of Bach can be arranged for the instrument.
Narciso Yepes and the modern 10-string guitar.
Cadran Lunaire - Saturnal
Maurice Ohana
Shot at Abbaye Noirlac.
Production by Lusankar Productions. Sound by Arthur Delzescaux.