Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 2316 items.
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Dobro Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This resonator guitar was made by Dobro in Los Angeles, California around 1933-1937. The name originated in 1928 when the Dopyera brothers formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company. "Dobro" is both a contraction of "Dopyera brothers" and a word meaning "goodness" in their native Slovak. John Dopyera was granted a patent (U.S. Patent #1,896,484, February 7, 1933) for a musical instrument with a conical metal resonator. This six course (6x1) guitar has a squared-off neck with raised strings for Hawaiian-style playing.
- Frederick John Wright (1926-1985) was a classic amateur country music performer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and a year later, his family moved to Toronto, Canada. In 1938, a door to door salesman offered a Dobro guitar with lessons for $5.00 per week, for thirteen weeks. Fred played this guitar and with his father entertained veterans in hospitals in the Toronto area. In 1947, Fred returned to the United States with his treasured guitar.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1933-1937
- maker
- Dobro
- ID Number
- 1989.0660.01
- catalog number
- 1989.0660.01
- accession number
- 1989.0660
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Martin Harp Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This harp guitar was made by C.F. Martin and Company of Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1905. Harp guitars were designed to provide a fuller bass response and more harmonic possibilities than standard guitars. According to Martin company records, this harp guitar was shipped in 1906 to Lewis & Son, violin dealers, in Chicago. The donor’s father, Fred Norman Vanderwalker is believed to have been the first owner of this harp guitar. This 000-28 model guitar, serial #10163, is one of five known harp guitars made by C.F. Martin and Company, none of which were made to the same specifications. It is notable for its double mahogany neck arrangement, large body style, highly figured rosewood ribs and back, and a harp peghead in the Viennese style of Johann Stauffer, who apprenticed in the Austrian shop of C.F. Martin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1905
- maker
- C. F. Martin & Co.
- ID Number
- 1992.0179.01
- accession number
- 1992.0179
- catalog number
- 1992.0179.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gibson Kalamazoo Arch-top Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1940. The “Kalamazoo” brand of musical instruments including guitars, banjos, mandolins and violins were made from 1934 to 1942. Gibson made a small number of “Kalamazoo” instruments in the 1950s and a decade later, reintroduced the brand with a series of electric guitars and basses, and amplifiers. This six course (6x1) guitar is stamped “FW-566” and has an arched spruce top, maple back and sides, elevated celluloid pickguard, metal tailpiece, and a domed peg head with a pointed top.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1940
- maker
- Gibson Co.
- ID Number
- 1992.0547.01
- accession number
- 1992.0547
- catalog number
- 1992.0547.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Paul Reed Smith "Dragon I" Electric Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric guitar was made by Made by Paul Reed Smith (PRS Guitars) in Annapolis, Maryland in 1993. It is serial #3 1557 and has a composite solid-body maple top and mahogany back and neck, all stained green, and features two humbucking pickups. This Dragon I model is distinguished by its distinctive mother-of-pearl dragon fretboard made from 201 pieces of abalone, turquoise, and mother of pearl. It had a limited production run of 50 guitars.
- When he started building his instruments, Paul Reed Smith was steeped in the traditions of the classic electric guitars of the 1950s and 1960s. Ted McCarty, the past president of Gibson and designer of the Les Paul model, was his mentor. In 1994, Paul Reed Smith's company, PRS Guitars, launched the McCarty model as a tribute to this electric guitar pioneer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1993
- maker
- Smith, Paul Reed
- ID Number
- 1993.0156.01
- catalog number
- 1993.0156.01
- accession number
- 1993.0156
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Paul Reed Smith CE Bolt-On Electric Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric guitar was made by Paul Reed Smith (PRS Guitars) in Annapolis, Maryland in 1993. It is a Classic Electric (CE Bolt-On) model, serial #377562 with a maple top with natural finish, maple back and neck, a rosewood fingerboard, with neck and bridge humbucking pickups.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1993
- maker
- Smith, Paul Reed
- ID Number
- 1993.0156.02
- catalog number
- 1993.0156.02
- accession number
- 1993.0156
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Maccaferri G40 Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was designed by Mario Maccaferri and made by the French American Reeds Manufacturing Company of Mount Vernon, New York in 1954. Maccaferri (1900-1993) was born in Cento, Italy and at the age of eleven became an apprentice to guitarist and luthier Luigi Mozzani. After an early career as a guitarist and instrument maker in Europe, Maccaferri immigrated to the United States in 1939. Mario Maccaferri developed a variety of plastic instruments including plastic woodwind reeds and a plastic ukulele. This six course (6x1) guitar, model G-40, was made of Dow Styron plastic. As indicated in the original brochure accompanying this guitar, it sold for $39.95.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1954
- maker
- Maccaferri, Mario
- ID Number
- 1994.0136.01
- accession number
- 1994.0136
- catalog number
- 1994.0136.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stratocaster Electric Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric guitar was made by Fender Musical Instrument Corp. in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. It is a reissue of the 1957 design with a two-tone sunburst finish. The Stratocaster is arguably the most successful and influential electric guitar ever produced. It is easily identified by its double cutaways, contoured body, and three pickups. It also features Fender's vibrato or tremolo system that allows players to raise or lower the pitch of the strings. In the hands of Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and many other musicians, the "Strat" has become an American icon.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1995
- maker
- Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
- ID Number
- 1995.0186.01
- accession number
- 1995.0186
- catalog number
- 1995.0186.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Precision Bass Electric Bass Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric bass guitar was made by Fender Musical Instrument Corp. in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. It is a reissue of the 1967 design with a three-tone sunburst finish. Leo Fender revolutionized the music world with his 1951 electric Precision Bass, and guitarist Monk Montgomery is credited with making the instrument a musical sensation. Although there were earlier stand-up electric basses, the "P Bass" was the first to be played like a standard guitar. It was also the first guitar to have the distinctive double cutaways.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1995
- maker
- Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
- ID Number
- 1995.0186.02
- accession number
- 1995.0186
- catalog number
- 1995.0186.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gibson Electric-Acoustic Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric-acoustic guitar, serial #EH4685, was made by Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1937. Introduced in 1936, this was the first Spanish-style electric guitar to achieve commercial significance, thanks in part to Charlie Christian, an inventive jazz soloist who gained prominence with the Benny Goodman Sextet. Christian took what had been considered a novelty and brought it to the forefront as a lead instrument. Gibson's first electric Spanish guitar, the ES-150's design featured a one-piece steel bar surrounded by the pickup coil and two magnets below the strings, rather than the earlier horseshoe configuration with magnets directly surrounding the strings. This new pickup was nicknamed the "Christian" in honor of the great guitarist with whom it is associated.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1937
- maker
- Gibson Co.
- ID Number
- 1997.0085.01
- catalog number
- 1997.0085.01
- accession number
- 1997.0085
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Parker Fly Electric Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This electric guitar was made by Parker Guitars of Willmington, Massachusetts in 1997. The company began in the early 1990s by luthier, Ken Parker. Parker Fly guitars are unique in their appearance and incorporate a radical new approach to the construction of electric guitars. Ken Parker was co-patentee with Lawrence Fishman on a number of patents for this new style of guitar. In 2003 the company was sold to U.S. Music Corporation in Illinois. This electric guitar is a Fly Concert Model, serial #028017BMH, with four control knobs: master volume, magnetic volume, magnetic tone, and piezo volume and tone, and two toggle switches: magnetic pickup selector and piezo/magnetic pickup selector.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1997
- maker
- Parker Guitars
- ID Number
- 1997.0299.01
- accession number
- 1997.0299
- catalog number
- 1997.0299.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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