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Decidedly, the most important factor in the development of the guitar was the addition of the sixth string. It was without doubt an innovation that belongs to the eighteenth century, just as the five-string guitar was a product of the sixteenth. The Italian origin of the six-string guitar is favoured by many arguments, not least, that it was constructed accordingly to the Italian method.

The precise date, for when the six double strings were replaced by six single strings, is not known. But it is safe to assume that, the six single-string arrangement goes back to the middle of the eighteenth century. Toward the end of the century, the guitar with six single strings overshadowed all other types.

Today the six-string guitar has become the norm. The rosette gave way to an open hole, while the neck was lengthened and fitted with a raised fingerboard extending to the sound hole. Nineteen fixed metal frets eventually became standard. The bridge was raised, the body enlarged, and fan-strutting introduced beneath the table to support higher tension strings. Treble strings were made of gut (superseded by more durable nylon after World War II), bass strings from metal wound on silk (or, more recently, nylon floss). Tablature became obsolete, guitar music being universally written in the treble clef, sounding an octave lower than written.