The Citole was a stringed instrument that was usually plucked with a plectrum, much used among the XII to XV centuries in Europe. It had a box with a unique wedge-shaped design that widens toward the pegbox. This was used to be bent backwards, sickle-shaped and sometimes topped by an animal head. I designed this Citole after collecting information from many iconographic sources as the Cantiga No. 150 painting, from the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X the Wise, and the so-called Warwick Citole exposed in the British Museum in London. It is a monoxile instrument, this means that the body is sculpted and hollowed from a single piece of wood, in this case European Limewood, and then gluing top and fingerboard. The pegbox carving is a portrait of Hugo, a beautiful pointer male who graciously posed for the occasion.

I also make a cheaper model, with single neck, flat peghead and simpler decoration.



String length: 580 mm.

You can listen to this instrument in the following link: EVO: Istampitta Isabella

Bass citole

I designed this citole as an answer to the interest of some musicians in a plucked instrument able to play lower than the lute, citole or guittern, keeping coherency with organological knowledge we have on Middle Ages. To do this I focused on two very specific representations that show a remarkably large instrument, previous but similar to the XIII Century citole, which appear in French manuscripts called Carolingian and Stuttgart psalteries, and dating from IX Century. Also, its smooth lines and sharp silhouette approach this model to the one in the Cantigas de Sta. Maria, relating the design of both sizes. As in the case of the tenor one, the body of this citole is sculpted and hollowed from a single piece of Spanish Cherry.

String length: 850 mm.

You can hear this instrument here: Efrén López improvisation with bass citole