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  #1  
Old 01-19-2019, 12:40 PM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Default Art historians? Those intricate Inlay Patterns? ?

Y'know, those stylised flowerpot and torch patterns that we still like to see inlaid in abalone on the headstocks of Gibson style mandolins and banjos and Martin style guitars.

Are they "Arts & Crafts" ? Art Deco ? Art Nouveau? or ?

And if one, why not another ?

Why do we still want these older arts movements on our instruments ?

Why not?
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Old 01-19-2019, 01:39 PM
JKA JKA is offline
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Art Deco is normally identified by its geometric design whereas Art Novoue is more organic and flowing. The flower pot inlay doesn't strike me as either, but I'm no expert and I'm sure someone will chip in with a broader knowledge.

Don't know why we love 'em but personally I love a bit of bling.
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Old 01-19-2019, 02:29 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
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I'd call this one deco:

http://www.djangobooks.com/media/eco...-headstock.jpg
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Old 01-19-2019, 02:32 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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The vase and flowers motif was a common decorative element starting around the 1880’s, which puts it earlier than any of aesthetic movements you mentioned, Andy. I suppose we could classify it as Beaux-Arts, but I think it precedes even that.

I think the main reason it’s been used for so long and continues to be used is that it looks attractive and signals a higher level of decoration but is relatively simple to execute, at least in pearl and abalone inlaid into headstock veneers. It’s more complicated to execute in plaster as a bas relief in the molding around a room, and that sort of decoration in interior decoration has long since fallen out of fashion, so long that the craftsmen who used to do that sort of work no longer exist.

But it lives on in guitar headstock inlays, for the reasons I mentioned.

Hope that makes sense.


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Old 01-19-2019, 02:56 PM
ManyMartinMan ManyMartinMan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
Y'know, those stylised flowerpot and torch patterns that we still like to see inlaid in abalone on the headstocks of Gibson style mandolins and banjos and Martin style guitars.

Are they "Arts & Crafts" ? Art Deco ? Art Nouveau? or ?

And if one, why not another ?

Why do we still want these older arts movements on our instruments ?

Why not?
The torch inlay has been around for over 100 years. I’ve never seen Martin claim that it is attributed to, but it comes out of and is consistent with the art nouveau movement. What makes a “style” one style or another is the period from which the style represents,copies or comes from. Art periods are identified by the era or years it was created in. For example:art deco, art nouveau, recoco, Renaissance, impressionist..... The prevailing art styles influence almost everything (art, literature, architecture) done in their periods. Here is a partial list of examples from “modern” art.

Modern art – 1860 – 1945

Note: The countries listed are the country in which the movement or group started. Most modern art movements were international in scope.

Impressionism – 1860 – 1890, France
American Impressionism 1880, United States
Cos Cob Art Colony 1890s, United States
Heidelberg School late 1880s, Australia
Luminism (Impressionism)
Arts and Crafts movement – 1880 – 1910, United Kingdom
Tonalism – 1880 – 1920, United States
Symbolism (arts) – 1880 – 1910, France/Belgium
Russian Symbolism 1884 – c. 1910, Russia
Aesthetic movement 1868 – 1901, United Kingdom
Post-impressionism – 1886 – 1905, France
Les Nabis 1888 – 1900, France
Cloisonnism c. 1885, France
Synthetism late 1880s – early 1890s, France
Neo-impressionism 1886 – 1906, France
Pointillism 1879, France
Divisionism 1880s, France
Art Nouveau – 1890 – 1914, France
Vienna Secession (or Secessionstil) 1897, Austria
Mir iskusstva 1899, Russia
Jugendstil Germany, Scandinavia
Modernisme – 1890 to 1910, Spain
Russian avant-garde – 1890 – 1930, Russia/Soviet Union
Art à la Rue 1890s – 1905, Belgium/France
Young Poland 1890 – 1918, Poland
Hagenbund 1900 – 1930, Austria
Fauvism – 1904 – 1909, France
Expressionism – 1905 – 1930, Germany
Die Brücke 1905 – 1913, Germany
Der Blaue Reiter 1911, Germany
Flemish Expressionism 1911–1940, Belgium
Bloomsbury Group – 1905 – c. 1945, England
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Old 01-19-2019, 04:06 PM
JonWint JonWint is offline
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For Martin's inlay history see: http://vintagemartin.com/inlays.html
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Old 01-19-2019, 05:52 PM
AndrewG AndrewG is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silly Moustache View Post
Y'know, those stylised flowerpot and torch patterns that we still like to see inlaid in abalone on the headstocks of Gibson style mandolins and banjos and Martin style guitars.

Are they "Arts & Crafts" ? Art Deco ? Art Nouveau? or ?

And if one, why not another ?

Why do we still want these older arts movements on our instruments ?

Why not?
They just scream late Victorian/Edwardian!; so turn of the century nouveau I'd suggest. In contrast the later 'split diamond' Super 400 and Les Paul Custom headstock inlay design is pure deco. I had a 1917 F4 with a double flower pot and inlaid Handel tuners, which ended up in TAMCO (swapped it for a Bourgeois Slope D).
The flowerpot works especially well with the curvy F-style, I think.

Last edited by AndrewG; 01-19-2019 at 05:59 PM.
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Old 01-20-2019, 01:41 AM
tadol tadol is offline
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I was told these were just traditional banjo designs - no idea where or how they originated -
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