Topic: Were nylon string guitars more prevalent in early recorded country blues?

[WowCoolNeat]

I ask because most photographs of early blues players have them holding nylon string guitars, yet during the folk revival I mostly see steel string players. Does anyone have any knowledge of this and why?

[Johnm]

Hi WowCoolNeat,
What they were holding may have looked like nylon string guitars, being small-bodied and often having slotted heads, but in fact they were strung with steel strings.  Use of nylon strings on the guitars of blues players of whatever era is virtually unheard of.
All best,
Johnm

[WowCoolNeat]

I did not know there were steel string guitars with slotted heads. I'm guessing the bridges had pegs like typical steel-string guitars? They weren't putting steel strings on classical guitars?

[Pan]

Here's an article discussing some of the instruments old bluesmen were thought of using. All sorts of guitars, but no classicals.

http://www.earlyblues.com/blues_singers.htm

Edited to add: on this page you'll find images and sound samples of old guitars used by bluesmen. Quite a few have slotted heads. They might have a pin bridge or a floating one.

http://littlebrotherblues.com/Gear/SoundTest1/index.htm

But really, any guitar that suits you well will do. Only problem with nylon strings is, they stretch, when bent, so bending metal strings is somewhat easier.



Cheers,

Pan