books ATLAS of Plucked Instruments
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books

YES, one day all the information of this website (and much more) I hope to make available in book form, but that will be years from now...
So till then : browse in the books that ARE already published !

Here I have put together a short list of books that will give you most information about the instruments - it is only a fraction of the books that are available and that I have in my collection. Most of the ones that are mentioned are chosen for their encyclopedia style. Remember that names and images of ethnic instruments have always been quite confusing, so mix-ups occur in many books.

 

Most books are still available via Amazone.com (or Amazon.Co.UK) and other booksellers. To search for out of print books, try Abebooks.com.

To find lots of information on the Web : search via Google images, with the name of the instrument (also try with different spellings). Try also the Wikipedia websites.

 
general books about instruments   top

New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, edited by Stanley Sadie, London 1984

    

Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments, Baines, OUP, 1992

    
Colour Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, Alexander Buchner, Hamlyn, 1980    
Musical Instruments, a comprehensive dictionary, Marcuse, Norton, 1975    
Musical Instruments, Diagram Books, Paddington, 1976    
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, Könemann, 2000    
Musical Instruments, Max Wade-Matthews, London 2000    
Man and Music, Jean Jenkins, Royal Scottish Museum 1983    
     
lutes   top
Brief History of the Lute, Lute Society Booklets nr 1, UK 1975    
Wire-strung Plucked Instruments contemporary with the Lute, Lute Society Booklets nr 3, UK 1977    
Chitarrone, Theorbe and Archlute, Robert Spencer; Early Music, volume 4, p 407 etc., OUP 1976;    
World of Medieval and Renaissance Musical Instruments, Jeremy Montagu, D&C, 1976    
The Bandora, Its Music and Sources, Lyle Nordstrom, HPP 1992    
Wire strings at Helmingham Hall, Lute Society Booklets nr 10, UK 2005    
The Lute in Europe, Andreas Schlegel, TheLuteCorner.ch 2006    
     
guitars   top
Gut-strung Plucked Instruments contemporary with the Lute, Lute Society Booklets nr 2, UK 1976    
Guitars, From the Renaissance to Rock, Evans, Paddington Press 1977    
Acoustic Guitars and other fretted instruments, Gruhn & Carter, GPI 1993    
Great Guitars, Shaw, Lauter Levin Ass. 1997    
The Acoustic Guitar, Freeth and Alexander, Bramley 1999    
The Electric Guitar, Freeth and Alexander, Salamander 2000    
Dangerous Curves, The art of the Guitar, Kuronen, MFA 2000    
The story of Selmer-Maccaferri guitars, Francois Charle, Paris 1999    
Guitars, The Tsumura Collection, Akira Tsumura, Tokyo    
     
mandolins   top
The Early Mandolin, James Tyler and Paul Sparks, Clarendon Press, 1989    
Geschiedenis van de mandoline, Robert Janssens,Antwerp 1982    
De mandoline en de gitaar door de eeuwen heen, Alex Timmerman, Zwolle 1994    
Mandolins of the 18th century, Stephen Morey, Cremona 1993    
The Classical Mandolin, Paul Sparks, OUP 1995    
The Embergher Mandolin, Ralf Leenen & Barry Pratt, Antwerp 2004    
     
cittern   top
Wire-strung Plucked Instruments contemporary with the Lute, Lute Society Booklets nr 3, UK 1977    
Music and Civilisation, British Museum Yearbook 4, London 1980    
Compleat Instructions for the Cittern or Guittar, Doc Rossi, Cetra Publishing 2005    
     
banjos   top
The Birth of the Banjo, Katonah Museum of Art, 2004    
Ring the Banjar !, MIT Museum, 1984    
That Half-Barbaric Twang, Karin Linn, Univ.of Illinois Press, 1991    
America's instrument, the banjo in the 19th Century, Gura&Bollman, Univ. of N.Carolina , 1999    
Banjos, The Tsumura Collection, Akira Tsumura, Tokyo 1984    
     
steelguitars   top
The History and Artistry of NATIONAL Resonator instruments, Bob Brozman, Centerstream, 1992    
The Hawaiian Steelguitar, Lorene Ruymar, Centerstream, 1996    
Lapsteel guitar, Andy Volk, Centerstream 2003    
De hommel in de Lage Landen, Hubert Boone, Brussel, 1976    
     
miscellaneous   top
How to Play Air Guitar, West & Gladdis, UK 2000    
     
     
Europe   top
Garland Encyclopedia 8 : Europe, editors Rice/Porter/Goertzen, New York 2000    
Cordophones Portugueses, José Lucio, Areal 2000    
Greek Popular Instruments, Anoyanakis, Athens 1991    
Atlas Muzykal'nykh Instrumentov Narodov SSSR, K.Vertkov, Moskou 1963    
     
Africa   top
African Music, Francis Bebey, Westport 1975    
Mande Music, Eric Charry, Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000    
Musiques du Maroc, Ahmed Aydoun, Casablanca 1992    
Afrikanische Saiteninstrumenten, Ulrich Wegner, Museum Völkerkunde Berlin, 1984    
The Garland Handbook of African Music, editor Stone, New York 2000    
     
Middle East   top
Music and Musical Instruments in the World of Islam, Jean Jenkins /Poul Olsen, London 1976    
The Music of the Arabs, Habib Touma, Amadeus Press, Portland 1995    
Sazhaw Iraan, Mohammad Masoudieh, Tehran 1383    
Azerbaijanian TAR, Vagif Abdulgassimov, Baku 1990    
     
Central Asia   top
Music in the Culture of Northern Afghanistan, Mark Slobin, Viking Fund Publications 1976    
Music and Musical Instruments in the World of Islam, Jean Jenkins and Poul Olsen, 1976    
The Hundred Thousand FOOLS OF GOD, Theodor Levin, IUP, 1996    
The Classical Music of Kashmir, Jozef Pacholszyk, VWB, Berlin 1996    
     
India   top
Classical Musical Instruments, Kasliwal, New Delhi 2001    
Garland Encyclopedia 5 : South Asia, The Indian Subcontinent, editor Alison Arnold, New York 2000    
Musical Instruments, B.C.Deva, New Delhi 1977    
Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan, C.R. Day, reprint LPB India 2003    
Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Allyn Miner, New Delhi 1997    
     
Far East   top
Chinese Musical Instruments, Alan Thrasher Images of Asia, OUP 2000    
Chinese Musical Instruments, Lee and Shen, Chinese Music Society of N-America 1999    
Echoes of History, Naxi music in modern China, Helen Rees, OUP 2000    
Japanese Music and Musical Instruments, William Malm, Japan 1959    
Japanese Musical Instruments, Hugh de Ferranti, Images of Asia, OUP 2000    
Korean Musical Instruments, Keith Howard, Korea 1988    
Einführung in die Musik Vietnams, Tran van Khé, Wilhelmshaven, 1982    
Musical Instruments of Vietnam's Ethnic Minorities, To Ngoc Thanh, Hanoi 1997    
Nhac Khi Dan Toc Viet Nam, Le Huy - Huy Tran, Ha Noi, 1984    
     
South East Asia   top
Musical Instruments of South East Asia, Eric Taylor, Images of Asia, OUP 1989    
Musical Instruments of Cambodia, Sam-Ang Sam, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka 2002    
Thai Musical Instruments, Dhanit Yupho / David Morton, Bangkok 1960    
Indonesian music and dance, Jaap Kunst, KIT 1994    
Music of Indonesia, (series of 20 CD's), liner notes by Philip Yampolsky, Smithsonian Folkways 1997    
Gongs and Bamboo, Panorama of Philippine Music Instruments, José Maceda, Univ.Philipp.Press 1998    
Traditional Musical instruments of Sabah, Sabah Museum, Kota Kinabalu 1992    
     
America   top
The Ukulele, A visual History, Jim Beloff, San Francisco 1997    
Guitares hispano-américaines, Bruno Montanaro, Edisud, 1983    
Musica Latina, Claus Schreiner, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1982    
The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music, edited Olsen/Sheehy, New York 2000    
Mapa de los Instrumentos Musicales de Uso Popular en el Peru, Inst. Nacional de Cultura, Lima 1978    
Instrumentos Musicales Populares Registrados en el Ecuador, Carlos Coba, Ecuador 1981    
Instrumentos Musicales de Bolivia, Ernesto Cavour, La Paz 1994    
Instrumentos Musicales de Venezuela, Aretz, Venezuela 1967    
Los Instrumentos Musicales en Colombia, Egberto Bermudez, Bogota 1985    
El Tiple Puertorriqueño, José Reyes-Zamora, Puerto Rico 2002    
     
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