Builders' Resources

Below is a list of resources for instrument builders and other links related to the construction of Renaissance citterns, bandoras, & orpharions. If you have an addition or correction, please contact me.

Instrument plans

Citterns:

• Technical Drawings of Musical Instruments in Public Collections of the World: https://cimcim.mini.icom.museum/resources/musical-instruments-technical-drawings-register/technical-drawings-all

• Specific historical cittern measurements can be found on subpages of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum der Universität Leipzig Katalogprojekte, http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de. (Site in German). See especially:

  • Leipzig, Inv. No. 612

  • Leipzig, Inv. No. 613

• Four Freiberg citterns. Drawings available directly from the University of Leipzig. Contact Prof. Dr. Eszter Fontana

• Cittern by A. Citaraedus, Urbino 1582. Drawing by Stephen Barber. Available from the Victoria & Albert Museum. No. 392-1871. [Note: As of Jan. 1, 2008, it was not possible to find the drawing listed on-line, but the prints department has made assurances that it can still be ordered.]

• Cittern by Girolamo Campi. Drawing by Ian Harwod. No. RCM 48. Was previously available from the Royal College of Music, Center for Performance History, Publications Department, but the previous website is no longer available, and the Publications Department does not seem to have a presence on the current website. https://www.rcm.ac.uk/ 

• Plans for three citterns available from The Ashmolean Museum Collection Online:

  • Hill Collection, No. 31. Gasparo da Salo, drawn by John Pringle.

  • Hill Collection, No. 32. Anon., "Italian, 17th C." (possibly Bochum?), drawn by John Pringle.

  • Hill Collection, No. 33. Anon., "Italian, 17th C." (possibly Virchi?), drawn by John Pringle.

• Two citterns recovered from a shipwreck. Drawing and reconstruction by and available from Sebastián Núñez.

• "Cittern labeled Petrus Rautta, England, 1579"  from the National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota store.

Orpharions / Bandoras

• • • • A drawing by John Pringle of the Rose orpharion / bandora can be obtained directly. Contact information available at http://www.pringleviols.com/.

      • Palmer orpharion drawing and condition report by Darryl Martin are available for free as PDF downloads, courtesy of the Musikhistorisk Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Various

• • • • A set of seven drawings by Peter Forrester. Available from the Lute Society (UK).  [Note: drawings are not full-sized.]  Includes: 

        • Cittern after Brussels 1524

        • Cittern after Gasparo da Salo in the Ashmolean

        • Orpharion after Palmer

        • Treble bandora in d'

        • Carved cittern

        • Bandora in A after Talbot/Praetorius

        • Ceterone

Articles available on-line

• Forrester, Peter. Wood and Wire—a lecture, plus the following handouts:

  • Fretting Patterns

  • Builders' Notes

  • A Provisional List of Extant 16th and early 17th Century Citterns

• Goodwin, Chris and Peter Forrester. What Makes a Good Cittern?

• Wraight, Denzil. "Making Italian Roses" for keyboard instruments. [external link]

Other articles of interest

• Articles by Peter Forrester. 

  • FoMRHI Communications:

    • Comm 2073 Cittern belly outlines, frustrations and suggestions for the modern maker

    • Comm 2076 How I build a cittern, part 1: the mould

    • Comm 2082 How I build a cittern, part 2: the back and sides, and part 3: the belly

    • Comm 2086 How I build a cittern, part 4: the fingerboard

    • Comm 2090 How I build a cittern, part 5: odds and ending

    • Comm 2119 The Other Citterns, part 1

    • Comm 2124 The Other Citterns, part 2: Carved Citterns, and some variations

    • Comm 2138 The Bandora Today, and how I make it , with some remarks about orpharions

    • Comm 2156 Errata in Comm 2138 The Bandora Today. Q 151, October 2020

  • All of the above are collected and revised into Historical Wire-Strung Instrument construction, Lute Society (UK) booklet No. 12. 126 pp.

Discussion lists

• • The very active "cittern society" group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CitternSociety/

  • Correspondence via the The Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historical Instruments: FoMRHI [external link]

  • Archives of the Dartmouth "Lute-Builder" list [external link]

  • Archives of the Dartmouth "Cittern" list. [external link]

  • Some discussions also happen on the Musical Instrument Makers Forum (MIMF) [external link]

Instrument parts

• • Parchment roses by Atelier Matéo Crémades

  • Parchment roses by Elena dal Cortivo

Current makers of instruments and strings

• • See the Makers & Suppliers page.