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 2317 items.
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Vinaccia Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by Gaetano Vinaccia in Naples, Italy in 1821. The Vinaccia family made violins and mandolins in Naples from the mid-18th to the late 19th century. Later generations of the family produced mostly mandolins and guitars. This six course (6 x 1) guitar has a maple back and sides, mother-of-pearl and red paste inlay around the edges and soundhole.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1821
- maker
- Vinaccia, Gaetano
- ID Number
- 1979.0647.04
- accession number
- 1979.0647
- catalog number
- 1979.0647.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Adamas Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This Adamas guitar, serial #652-93, was made by Ovation Instruments Inc., a subsidiary of Kaman Corporation in Bloomfield, Connecticut, around 1978-1979. The Adamas guitar was introduced in 1976, and took seven years and 186 modifications to complete. This six course (6x1) guitar, model #1187-8 is made with a fibronic soundboard (carbon graphite and birch), rounded fiberglass back, carved black walnut bridge, walnut neck, and sculptured headpiece. To improve the aesthetics of the guitar, Ovation created a special finish with bronze highlights in blue, beige, red or brown, for stage lights and reflectivity.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1978-1979
- maker
- Ovation Instruments Inc.
- ID Number
- 1979.0818.01
- catalog number
- 1979.0818.01
- accession number
- 1979.0818
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prototype Adamas Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This production prototype for the Adamas model of guitars was made by Ovation Instruments Inc., a subsidiary of Kaman Corporation in Bloomfield, Connecticut, around 1973-1974. The Kaman Corporation, founded by Charles Kaman, had great success in aerospace engineering. Kaman, a dedicated guitar enthusiast, founded Ovation Instruments, Inc. and applied some of the engineering discoveries to manufacture an acoustic guitar that could be sonically improved by modifying its shape and construction. Patents granted to Kaman include, a sound board for stringed instruments #3,880,040, guitar construction #4,056,034, and a stringed musical instrument body #4,090,427.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- prior attribution
- 1974-1975
- date made
- 1973-1974
- maker
- Ovation Instruments Inc.
- ID Number
- 1979.0818.02
- catalog number
- 1979.0818.02
- accession number
- 1979.0818
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Chet Atkin’s Haile Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- Hascal Haile of Tompkinsville, Kentucky made this guitar in 1972. Hascal "Hack" Haile (1906-1986) began making guitars professionally after retiring from furniture making in the late 1960s. He made guitars for many classical and country musicians and was considered to be among the world’s top makers of custom guitars. This six course (6x1) guitar has a top of Spanish pine, back and sides of Spanish cypress, and a maple neck. The guitar’s edge and soundhole is inlaid with abalone and ebony. Country musician, Chet Atkins previously owned and played this guitar and owned several Haile guitars throughout his career.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1972
- user
- Atkins, Chet
- maker
- Haile, Hascal B.
- ID Number
- 1980.0681.01
- accession number
- 1980.0681
- catalog number
- 1980.0681.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Servais Cello
- Description
- Antonio Stradivari is credited with the final development and refinement of the violin family, creating instruments that are viewed today as the standard of perfection. Although little is known of his life, we know from notes on his labels that he was born in 1644 and apprenticed to Nicolo Amati, the pre-eminent violin maker of Cremona, Italy. Stradivari was 57 years old when he built the Servais cello, using particularly beautiful wood he reserved for such large instruments. The varnish is unusually rich, a reddish-orange color with golden transparency. The overall purity, and especially the sound of this cello, are remarkable. For its importance in the development of the modern bowed string family, the Servais stands alone.
- Adrien-François Servais (1807-1866) was a celebrated Belgian cellist famous for his powerful tone and acrobatic technique, combined with increased use of vibrato, which was at that time an innovation in performance. He was also one of the first cellists to use the modern end-pin. In addition to his frequent performance tours, he was on the Brussels Conservatory faculty during a period when Brussels was an influential musical center. This is the cello he used in his career, building an enormous public reputation.
- Date made
- 1701
- user
- Servais, Adrien-François
- maker
- Stradivari, Antonio
- ID Number
- 1981.0289.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0289.01
- accession number
- 1981.0289
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gibson Electric Lap Steel Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- The Gibson Guitar Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan manufactured this electric lap steel guitar from 1947 to 1959. This BR-9 model electric guitar was produced for beginners and includes fingerboard markers for ease of locating any position. This six course (6 x 1) guitar has a solid wood body, beige finish with Cremona Brown trim, combination hand rest and unit cover, and tone and volume controls. In a 1959 Gibson catalog, the BR-9 guitar sold for $75.00 or $165.25 for the complete outfit including the guitar, case, and GA-9 amplifier.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1945-1950
- maker
- Gibson Co.
- ID Number
- 1981.0530.04
- accession number
- 1981.0530
- catalog number
- 1981.0530.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
C.F. Martin & Co. Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by C.F. Martin & Company of Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1913. Christian Friedrich was born in Markneukirchen, Germany. Martin and his father, Johann Georg Martin were both guitar makers and members of the cabinet makers’ guild in Markneukirchen. Following a legal dispute with the violin makers’ guild over the right to make guitars and the restrictiveness of the guild system, C.F. Martin left Germany for New York in 1833. By 1838, C.F. Martin had moved his business to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. This six course (6x1) guitar is a Concert model O-28, serial #11759, and has a spruce top, rosewood body, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard and bridge, and inlay of ivory and celluloid marquetry. There are slotted diamond inlays on the fingerboard: two at the 5th fret, one at the 7th fret, and two at the 9th fret. In an 1898 C.F. Martin catalog, a Concert model O-28 guitar sold for $45.00.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- maker
- C. F. Martin & Co.
- ID Number
- 1984.0843.36
- accession number
- 1984.0843
- catalog number
- 1984.0843.36
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stroh Violin
- Description (Brief)
- This instrument was patented (English Patent #9418) by John M.A. Stroh in London England on May 4, 1899 and manufactured by George Evans & Co. from 1904–1942. John Matthias Augustus Stroh was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1828, and was an apprentice watch and clock maker, who immigrated to England in 1851. In this instrument, the Stroh patent for amplifying a vibrated string is adapted to the violin. Stroh invented many acoustical devices, and the concept of this patent originated from work on the mechanical sound-box of the gramophone. This violin is made of a solid cylindrical body built of two pieces of half-round mahogany, an aluminum shoulder rest, diaphragm and horn, traditional violin neck, pegbox, and scroll of maple, and a dark red-brown varnish.
- Description
- To overcome the lack of sound–carrying power in string instruments, John M. A. Stroh introduced new “violins” like this one in England in the early 1900s. Stroh replaced the violin's usual wooden body with a metal resonator to produce a louder, more penetrating sound. The aluminum horn at the end of the fingerboard directed this sound either into the recording horn or into the ear of a singer. The performer placed the smaller aluminum horn at his or her ear in order to hear what was being played more distinctly. In 1986, Washington, D.C. resident Jeffery R. D. Crockett donated this Stroh violin to the Smithsonian. “My mother purchased this Stroh violin,” he wrote in his October 2, 1986, letter of donation, “in the 1930s in the town of Gravesend, Kent County, England. She used it when playing in a small local orchestra.” Mr. Crockett continued, “I give this violin to the Smithsonian Institution,” then adds—apparently unwittingly— “with no strings attached.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1904-1942
- maker
- George Evans & Co.
- patentee
- Stroh, John M. A.
- ID Number
- 1986.0858.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0858.01
- accession number
- 1986.0858
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lyon & Healy Lakeside Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by Lyon & Healy of Chicago, Illinois around 1897-1925. The company was founded in 1864 by George Washburn Lyon and Patrick Joseph Healy as a music publications shop for the Boston company of Oliver Ditson. Lyon & Healy quickly expanded as a retail distributor for musical instruments. The company also made musical instruments but is best known as a manufacturer of harps. As depicted in an 1898-99 Lyon & Healy catalog, this ”Lakeside” model guitar, item number 49-3/4, has and oak back and sides, 16th century finish, hand polished, cherry finish neck, top and back inlay with white celluloid and colored wood edge, colored wood inlay around sound hole, ebony fingerboard with pearl position dots, and a metal tailpiece. This guitar sold for $18.75.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1895-1925
- maker
- Lyon & Healy
- ID Number
- 1987.0055.06
- catalog number
- 1987.0055.06
- accession number
- 1987.0055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Irving Ashby's Stromberg Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by Charles A. Stromberg and Son of Boston, Massachusetts around 1939-1941. Responding to requests from jazz guitarist for an instrument that could cut through and be heard over the horn section of jazz bands, Elmer Stromberg developed his giant, 19-inch wide Master 400 model. It is one of the loudest acoustic guitars ever made. Elmer Stromberg made about 600 guitars with his father, Charles, a Swedish immigrant.
- Charles and Elmer Stromberg’s shop was a popular hang-out for local guitarists who would break in new instruments before they were sold to customers. One such local was Irving Ashby, a Boston native who went on to play with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and the Nat King Cole Trio. This six course (6x1) guitar, Master 400 model, and serial #507, was custom made for American jazz guitarist, Irving Ashby (1920-1987).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939-1941
- user
- Ashby, Irving
- maker
- Charles A. Stromberg and Son
- ID Number
- 1988.0421.01
- accession number
- 1988.0421
- catalog number
- 1988.0421.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center