The Guitar has a Rich and Varied Design History.Generally, the Guitar of today employs design features dating back over a couple of centuries. What might have happened before its recorded history? Let's just envision some prehistoric hunter fascinated by the audible twang delivered when shooting an arrow from his wooden bow when gathering food. Without the distractions we are accustomed to(ie. TV, CellPhone, Computers, etc.), and plenty of time to brainstorm with wood and gut or vine strings, an enterprising early musical alchemist would most likely test a number ideas and configurations before discovering that adding a bowl or gourd beneath the string amplified the vibrated sound and that some materials such as wood or leaf or clay performed better for this purpose than, say, rock. This could have happened simultaneously in several regions including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and even North and South America. This may be especially true since many societies in these regions were already familiar with using drum and percussion sounds for communication. According to Tom Wheeler, a guitar historian, the early primitive instruments that have been dated include the French Crota, Italian Chitaria, Latin Vidula, Arabian Ud, Chinese Tsi-Tze, Persian Tambur, and English Lute. Lute-like instruments are even documented in the biblical Old-Testament. In the mid -19th Century, a design by Antonio Torres Jurado (1817 - 1892) emerged as somewhat of a standard for the classical guitar. This design remained very prominent until the early 1900's when industrialized methods began to appear in the United States and Europe. Today, design of the guitar has benefited as more machines and robotics are increasingly employed. Yet, builders of Acoustic Steel String Guitars and Archtop Guitars still employ hand techniques in critical areas in order to retain the acoustic characteristics and tonal response typified by the early instruments and so dependent on human senses of sight, sound, & touch
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