History and Development of Guitar

Guitarist Per-Olof Johnson had always been interested in early music. After having
specialised in repertoire knowledge and period interpretation both in Vienna and
Basel he came to a point where he had to decide whether to keep playing the guitar
or switch to exclusively play the lute. The difference between the two instruments -
predominantly, right hand technique - was difficult to bridge and he didn't feel
comfortable to maintain both. Despite his love for carly musiche decided that he
couldn't entirely give up the guitar. Here his scratch begun. He needed an instrument
which he could play using his existing technique but with the extended range that
would allow for playing pieces written for lute without the need for arrangements and
transcriptions. He already knew of George bolin, a fine instrument maker in
Stockholm, and approached him for advice.

This was the beginning of the decade long quest of developing a guitar that would
give Johnson all the freedom he needed. Bolin kept working on new prototypes and
Johnson was testing them diligently. The slightly shorter neck required a tighter
soundboard whilst the low bass strings required the complete opposite to fully
flourish. Working their way through models based on various string instruments, Bolin
finally ended up designing a completely new guitar body with a unique bracing
system.

Towards the end of 1960s they finally had a playable guitar with a well-balanced
sound, and as it shared many qualities with one of most common renaissance
instruments (the alto lute) they simply called it alto guitar or altguitarr in swedish. per-
olof johnson used it regularly in concerts and recordings, but it wasn’t until 1978 it got
its international breakthrough. This was when it was introduced to the guitar elite
winning the Paris international Guitar Competition. The guitarist this time was not
Per-Olof Johnson himself, but is star pupil
-Goran Sollscher