Stroh Hawaiian Guitar, c. 1920

With a large metal horn and resonating device, this circa 1920s Strohviols Hawaiian guitar represents an early attempt to project sound before the invention of electric amplification.  

John Matthias Augustus Stroh (1828-1914) was a German-born inventor living in London who modified the basic design of the violin in 1899 to create a new line of instruments under the brand name Strohviols. These unique-looking violins (and later other stringed instruments like this guitar) were manufactured by the George Evans & Company, in collaboration with the Stroh family. These unique instruments featured a modified bridge connected to an aluminum diaphragm that directed and amplified sound through a large movable horn, very similar to the mechanical amplification methods used in gramophones of the time.