Mozzani Instruction Booklet for the Chitarra Lyra

This interesting booklet, in Luigi Mozzani's own words (for the introduction, if not the remainder), was included with an instrument sold in the U.S. recently. The scans were donated by Darcy Kuronen of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

A portion of this booklet is translated in the new Mozzani book, and I had another friend (scholar Thomas Heck) give me an in-person "gist" of the salient points.

It is (unfortunately) neither a history nor a manual of playing technique. Rather, it is part self-promotion of his harp guitars - specifically the novel neck mechanism - and part instruction manual for adjusting the action with this mechanism.

Mozzani first discusses his inspiration of the "antique lyre" (clearly he's not about to admit copying Schenck;s instruments!) and then about the precedence and usefulness of extra bass strings (Coste, Mertz, transcribing Bach to the guitar).

The body of the booklet then goes into the reasoning behind the inventions, including a detailed explanation of the three pivot points at each end of the neck, and the separate adjustments for treble-side and bass-side strings.

As a reminder, "Chitarra-Lyra" - as coined by Mozzani - refers to both his single arm and dual arm models. Most, but not all, are harp guitars with extra basses.

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