click above for more short-scale cittern images

SHORT-SCALE CITTERN

• 20" or 508 mm scale length
• 14 fret neck
• body : 15"L / 14.4"W / 3.3"D
• 44 mm neck width at nut
• string gauges: .010, .017, .025w, .035, .049
• tunings : GCGDA, ADADA, GDADA

With the shorter scale of 20" this cittern lies about halfway between a bouzouki and mandolin. The advantage here is closer fret increments which allow for faster picking and less finger stretch, while the low 5th course acts as a drone or for chord fingering. The scale is long enough to facilitate ringing out some rhythm chords without sounding tinny and the deep body design and carved-top warms up the treble range. High quality mini-tuning heads help to minimize on an overweight neck.

The noticeably induced arch-back helps with better projection and volume compared to carved backs. This is a surprisingly loud instrument.
 You can choose a topwood of sitka spruce, red cedar or Engleman spruce. I have found these choices to be commendable for my carved-top designs. Cedar adds extra warmth and punch to the tight twang of this model in particular. Sitka spreads out more tonal balance in the high registers and Engelman falls about somewhere in between. It's higher cellular resin content bring in a deep richness in tone but slightly more balanced than cedar.

There is adequate bracing under the soundboard. Most of the resistance is accomodated in the actual curvature of the top. An efficient neck angle helps establish the necessary down pressure to initiate proper vibrational transference. I can make recomendations to outfit your cittern with the proper pick-up and pre-amp systems.

• I also build a mid-size cittern with the scale length of an Octave mandolin (22.5") and a tuning of GDADA, gauges .010 to .049. Please enquire as to which would suit you.