According to "Imagine: the story of the guitar" (BBC) that said above of the English cittern is indeed the case: the gittern (gut strung) of medieval times was replaced by the similar but wire-strung cittern in Elizabethan times, available for any man to play apon visiting a barber shop; or for travelling minstrels. Also, this chap played one, that he said was carved out of the one piece of wood, and it sounded, and looked, great.