Renaissance & Baroque Guitar

Sized to historical specification, not modern guitar. Our Renaissance and Baroque guitars are scaled to the proportions a player of that era would have known. Body size, scale length, and string spacing all match the historical record. Players coming from modern classical guitar will feel the difference immediately.

Five and six courses, paired strings. The Renaissance guitar is a four or five-course instrument, the Baroque guitar a five-course, and the vihuela typically six-course. All use paired strings rather than the modern single-string setup. The voice is brighter, more shimmery, and historically accurate.

Solid tonewoods, period-appropriate construction. Solid rosewood and walnut bodies, spruce or cedar soundboards, geared tuners that hold the courses where you set them. The build follows historical methods without compromising on stability for the modern player.

Built for the early-music player, not the casual buyer. This collection is not for the player exploring early music for the first time on a modern classical guitar. It is for the player who has already decided to commit to the repertoire on the right instrument.

If you are exploring Spanish vihuela repertoire (Milan, Mudarra, Narvaez), the vihuela is the right instrument. If your repertoire centers on the seventeenth-century Spanish and French Baroque (Sanz, de Visee, Corbetta), the Baroque guitar is the canonical
choice. Renaissance guitar literature is smaller but distinctive, and the Renaissance guitar suits the player drawn specifically to that body of work.

A player unsure between the
three should let the repertoire decide. The instrument that plays the music you
want to learn is the right instrument.

Players coming from modern classical guitar adapt within a few weeks. The right hand technique is similar, the left hand spacing is closer, and the paired courses take a session or two to internalize. The biggest adjustment is the tuning, which differs from modern guitar standard.

Every Roosebeck Renaissance and Baroque instrument ships with a quality gig bag.