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Ten-string extended-range classical guitar

String instrument
Classification	string
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.322-5 (Composite chordophone sounded by the bare fingers)
Developed	1963 by Narciso Yepes in collaboration with José Ramírez III from the classical guitar
Related instruments
Ten-string guitar
Musicians
Narciso Yepes Perfecto de Castro
Builders
Ramírez Guitars Paulino Bernabe Senior

Ten-string classical guitar redirects here. For the romantic ten-string harp guitar or decacorde see Ten-string guitar#Ten-string harp guitars.

Invention

The concept of a guitar with fully chromatic, sympathetic string resonance was conceived in 1963 by Narciso Yepes, who "ordered the guitar from José Ramírez ". This instrument is sometimes referred to as the "modern" 10-string guitar (or the "Yepes guitar") to differentiate it from ten-stringed harp guitars of the 19th century.

In Ser Instrumento, Yepes mentions that the reasons that led him to carry out the "design" (diseño), of his instrument were acoustical/physical ("físicas") and musical ("musicales"). After some "initial protest" that the 10-string guitar envisioned by Yepes was "impossible" to construct, Ramírez agreed to the commission and completed the first of these instruments in March 1964. Yepes hastens to point out that he invented nothing (inventado nada) by adding four strings to the guitar, noting the constantly changing number of strings on the guitar during its history, including 10-stringed guitars of the XVIII and XIX centuries. Like earlier 10-stringed guitars, his instrument has an augmented tessitura. However, unlike earlier 6- or 10-stringed guitars, the normal tuning of the strings Yepes added "also incorporates all the natural resonance that the instrument lacked in eight of twelve notes of the equal tempered scale". As Yepes explains, the tuning of the Romantic ten-stringed guitars is "not exactly the same, because the tuning that I use is also for the resonance")

In the early 1960s, luthier José Ramírez III considered adding sympathetic strings to the classical guitar. He sought advice from the leading classical guitarists of the time, notably Andrés Segovia and Narciso Yepes, both of them players of Ramírez six-string guitars. Eventually they came up with a ten string guitar.

Today, ten-string instruments to Ramírez' original design remain available from the Ramírez Company, and similar instruments in a variety of designs are available both from the Ramírez Company and other luthiers, notably from Paulino Bernabe Senior.

See also

• Ten-string guitar for all guitars with ten strings.
• String resonance (music)
• Harmonic series

References and notes

1. The first compositions for this instrument date from 1963: Ohana, Maurice. 1963. Si le jour paraît..., nos. 1-7. Gérard Billaudot: Paris.
2. Yepes, quoted in: Snitzler, Larry. 1978. "The 10-String Guitar: Overcoming the Limitations of Six Strings". Guitar Player 12(3): p. 26.
3. There is no record of Yepes himself using the adjective "modern" in relation to his guitar or its standard tuning. However, it is used by the LaBella Company to differentiate string sets intended for Yepes' standard tuning and another string set that the company produces, called "Romantic". (See LaBella's catalogue, p. 10, as well as . The Romantic 10-stringed harp guitar's tuning, from which the LaBella Company has derived its "Romantic" tuning string sets, is indicated (among other sources) here (p.3), in a period document (Rischel 30 mu 6611.1784 U48) housed at The Royal Library of Denmark.)
4. Sensier, Peter. 1975. "Narciso Yepes and the ten-string guitar". Guitar iii(9): p. 27. ISSN: 03017214.
5. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April.
6. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 15.
7. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 15.
8. Sensier, Peter. 1975. "Narciso Yepes and the ten-string guitar". Guitar iii(9): p. 27. ISSN: 03017214.
9. Snitzler, Larry. 1978. "The 10-String Guitar: Overcoming the Limitations of Six Strings". Guitar Player 12(3): p. 26.
10. Kozinn, Allan. 1981. "Narciso Yepes and His 10-String Guitar". The New York Times, Nov. 22: p. D22.
11. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 15.
12. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 16-17.
13. Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 17.
14. ("además incorporan toda la resonancia natural que le faltaba al instrumento en ocho de las doce notas de escala temperada") Yepes, N. 1989. "Ser Instrumento" {To Be an Instrument}. Speech of Ingression into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, delivered on 30 April: p. 17.
15. Schneider, John. 1983. "Conversation with Narciso Yepes". Soundboard, Spring: p. 67.
16. Ramírez, José. 1994. "The Ten-String Guitar". In: Things About the Guitar. Bold Strummer. pp. 137-140. ISBN 9788487969409
17. See Professional guitars in the current Ramírez Guitars catalog. The Traditional Classic ten string is as designed by José Ramírez III, while the Special Classic ten string is a later design by his son José Ramírez IV.

Further reading

• Ramírez, José. 1994. "The Ten-String Guitar". In Things About the Guitar. Madrid: Soneto Ediciones Musicales: pp. 137–140. ISBN 8487969402

• Classical guitar