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it is Sting(from the Police) in a Youtube video. is it a tenor? a parlor? romantic...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-86QIfLr_w

For a generic term, I would use parlor. It looks like a Ditson, judging from the gentle waist.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Classical strings....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Piccolo?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I think, with that size body and such a short scale length, It would most likely be a tenor guitar.
Brent

thanks, i figured you all would know exactly what it was....i have never seen anything quite like it. i suppose it has no low end with that small "peanut" body

It's based on a Romantic Guitar. The basic body shape goes back a bit further to late French baroque Guitars but early Romantic Guitars also had a gentle waist to the body. You can put any name you want on it but ultimately that is where the size/shape of that instrument is derived from. It's a full sized Guitar.

Looks like a steel string to me. Rob Ehlers had one for sale at Buffalo Bros a while back that looked similar. It was patterned after a Martin made Ditson 5-45. For such a small guitar it put out loads of volume and was a kick in the butt to play.

If they're built right, they can have a surprisingly full sound and definitely on the loud side. Smaller bodies can be much more efficient.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I think Pat nailed it.

Sting owns a "Standard" size Ditson Model 1-21. These are sometimes called parlour guitars, sometimes terz.

More here: http://www.vintagemartin.com/MartinDitson.html

and this particular Ditson here: http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y ... lgsMChl10q

cheers.

It's my old Ditson style I guitar that I sold through Lark Street music many moons ago.
The Distson guitars (made by Martin) were fan braced and in three sizes and styles all in mahogany and spruce. There was the 1, 2 and 3, 11,22, and 33 and the 111, 222 and 333 (same size and shape as the "S" model Martin Dreadnoughts.
Martin also made a few of these in their regular styles (21, 28, 30,42,45) in the smallest size only. I'm presently building one of these in the middle size in style 28 (something that Martin never produced).
Here are better pics of this particular guitar:

thanks!
so it is full lengthed, ie 24ish inches...?

Yo, nyazzip...

Please define "full size"

Like is there some sort of "Official" governing body that determines , defines and enshrines this sort of looferic B.S.?

Size eh.... We must remember what Yoda taught us...

................................."Size don't matter."

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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^^ i edited it to "full length"....and what part of "24ish inches" do you not understand?

I call this size a guitar. 'Parlor guitar' is a modern term, AFAIK, and has pretty ill defined meaning.

Has anyone else noticed that Ditsons seem to have been a sort of half hearted attempt at a retro throwback, and that they are basically the same body profile as a lot of renaissance guitars? It appears that somebody then had the great idea to make some of them same shape but bigger. Is Stradivarius responsible for the Dread?

Size 1 was a typical guitar size at the time. There's been a hundred years of guitar size inflation.

Please define..."full length"

Since me do not use plans or drawings, don't do the "usual therapeutic copies or knock offs", very seldom use calipers or a measuring tape during the building process up until its time to lay in the frets based upon whatever the string length ends up at and having been at this game for over 50 years me has yet to find the "carved in stone tablets" defining the mystical, nonsensical mumbo jumbo meaningless terms such as "full, length or standard size" and other such pigeon holing terminology that you were using, therefor me most humbly thought that you had found them there tablets or maybe that you were inducted into or part of some Official Governing Body of Loofers with all the rights and privileges to establish and maybe even "enforce" (heaven forbid) standards for the aspiring minions of wood be loofers to add hear to.

But alas...it seems me was mistaken.

Oh well, what to say or do.


?adma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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well, a traditional guitar has 6 strings that are tuned to E,A,D,G,B, and E. adult human hands are all very close in size. to to achieve optimal playability(in the first 5 frets) AND have the strings tuned to the above specific pitches, at a tension that will A)produce sufficient volume and B)not pull apart a wood instrument, then the design will naturally hover around a "standard", which, as we all know, happens to be 24-25 inche scale length. do you think it is just a random accident that guitars are not all 40 inch scales? or 10 inch?

As I recall the scale of this is the smaller Martin 24.9" (or maybe 24.5").
Body length is around 17 1/2".
As stated in the history of their creation by Harry Hunt of the Ditson company the intention was to create a "Spanish" shape (which stems from the Vihuela) here is a 1768 Francisco Sanguino:

Cool! Thanks for that info. That is the shape for sure. It's retro baroque then, rather than retro renaissance, except for all the ornament...

" Is Stradivarius responsible for the Dread?"
Well.................
considering the Italian influence on the French and the French influence on the Spanish and the Spanish influence on Martin.........that statement may be truer than you think!

that 1768 Francisco Sanguino is a deep 'un...i'd like to hear it