POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Guitar and case made by Louis Panormo

Object No. 88/440

This guitar, was made by one of the leading guitar makers of the first half of the nineteenth century, Louis Panormo. Dating from 1822 the guitar is an early example of Panormo's work and shows several innovative design features including the adoption of Spanish fan bracing under the soundboard. This feature, found on many modern guitars, allowed a more supple movement of the soundboard to help project the sound than did the more traditional ladder bracing used by most central and northern European guitar makers at the time. Based in London, Louis was a member of the Panormo family of musical instrument makers who were active from the late eighteenth century through to the 1850s. A number of existing guitars by Panormo show he was adopting other methods or refinements to construction techniques. Apart from his use of fan bracing he adopted the Spanish heel from Spanish makers which differed from the traditional way the neck was fitted to the body. Other features included his distinctively cut guitar heads to assist balance of the guitar when metal tuning machines were used and the gradual deepening of the guitar's body to increase sound production; another step towards modern guitar design. These innovations rank Panormo at the forefront of guitar design during the first half of the nineteenth century along with other European makers such as Lacôte in Paris, Stauffer in Vienna and Fabricatore in Naples as well as Spanish makers in Malaga and Cadiz. Michael Lea Curator, music & musical instruments February, 2014