The Baroque guitar in Bavaria In Bavaria, the manufacture of stringed instruments is centred in two towns: Füssen and Mittenwald. It was in these two towns, which are south of Munich and very close to the Austrian border, that lutherie blossomed in the Baroque period.
Füssen, town of luthiers
Füssen is the oldest hub of European stringed instrument-making. The Füssen luthiers’ charter, drafted in 1526, is one of the oldest in Europe. While it was primarily the lutes crafted there that made Füssen so famous, its high quality guitars and viols also contributed to its renown. Around 1530, the stringent regulations of these guilds – stipulating the rights and obligations of its luthiers, their apprentices, craftsmen and journeymen – were applied very strictly and required that only a limited number of individuals practice the craft in the town: no more than twenty as at the mid-sixteenth century. A good many luthiers therefore had to move elsewhere, following the trade routes that would lead them to the major cities of Italy, via the Lech river, but also to Vienna and Prague, as well as to England. Young craftsmen, having only just commenced their training, very often had to leave behind their family and homeland so as to take up an apprenticeship in a workshop far, far away. These expatriate German luthiers, who settled in Europe’s major cities, brought with them their manufacturing expertise and retained their own aesthetic preferences, especially in Italy: engraved ivory inspired by the masterpieces of Albrecht Dürer, and, for guitars, the pronounced ebony/ ivory contrast (or the rosewood/bone contrast