The musican/composer Alonso Mudarra first requested a 4-coursed discant Vihuela da Mano in 1546. With this, the Renaissance guitar was born: it is the "little sister" of the 6-coursed Vihuela. The term guitarra renacentista was first used by the Spanish musician/composer and music theorist Juan Bermudo in 1555. This very handy Renaissance guitar spread from Spain to other countries, and became very popular in France in the mid-16th century.

There is no surviving Renaissance guitar from the mid-16th century, despite the very large number of guitars at that time. For this reason, I designed my own model with a string length of 52cm, based on the historical illustration from Guillaume Morlaye's Premier Livre (Paris 1552), in collaboration with musicians, different iconography and the construction tradition of this time.

Original wood soundboards were mostly done without edge insert or with a „parchment framing”. For pragmatic reasons (edge protection, interior repairs), I recommend a discreet edge insert.