The history of the guitar is nothing if not complex. Many pages could be devoted to outlining what we don’t know about this instrument in different lands and areas. The old saying, “What’s hit is history; what’s missed is mystery,” puts the burden of ignorance (“missing”) squarely on the shoulders of us, who do the “hitting.” It is with a certain sense of personal inadequacy and humility that I submit to the readers this first “problem area” in need of the enlightening embrace of disinterested...