Sidebar 2

French and Italian guitars of the 1600's became more and more indented at the middle. Around the time of the American revolution, an extra string, the bass E, was added to the existing 5-string instruments, taking a crucial step toward the development of today's guitar.

The Corulli guitar of 1810 was one of the first to have six single strings tuned to the present arrangement: E A D G B E.