Etienne Laprevotte (1799–1860) was a skilled violin maker working in Paris during the first half of the nineteenth century. He is best remembered, however, for his fine guitars with their unconventional oval-shaped soundholes. Laprevotte built his guitars based on the principles of violin design; his maple backs were carved into an arch and lacked bindings. Most distinctively, he parted with traditional internal cross bracing to support the soundboard, opting instead to use two (sometimes four) longitudinal bars that ran the length of the body, separated by an elliptical soundhole. By parting with the traditional harmonic bar system, Laprevotte’s design allowed for freer movement of the soundboard, thereby lowering the frequency of the Helmholtz resonance which created deeper and richer bass tones.
| Specifications | |
| Date | c. 1836 |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Length of Guitar | 944 mm |
| String Length | 645 mm |
| Upper Bout Width | 207 mm |
| Waist Width | 153 mm |
| Lower Bout Width | 278 mm |
| Side Depth at Waist | 70 mm |
| Soundboard: Spruce | Back: Birdseye maple | Sides: Birdseye maple | Details: Arched back with internal longitudinal braces giving rise to an oval-shaped soundhole | |
The size and design of both the c. 1836 and the 1839 Laprevottes in the Austin-Marie Collection seemingly addressed the demands of the Spanish virtuoso Dionisio Aguado, who played an 1838 Laprevotte guitar. These would include an applied ebony fingerboard that extends over the soundboard as opposed to frets embedded in the soundboard, and a longer string length (645 mm) than typically found on the average guitar from the period. (By comparison, the string length of Panormo’s guitars averaged 630 mm, and Stauffer’s just 590 mm.) The raised fretboard design increased the clearance between the strings and the top, and for a guitarist like Aguado who played with fingernails, a raised fingerboard allowed for greater ease of playing.
The soundboard is made of spruce and the sides and arched back of birdseye maple. The headstock was either modified or replaced in the nineteenth century by Journet of London, as his stamp can be seen on the top of the head. French guitars imported to England at this time often had their pegged headstock removed and replaced with mechanical tuners. The English were early adopters of tuning machines and broadly preferred them to pegs.
