I'm sorry, but I have to say it. Earlier in the renaissance revival, George Kelischek engineered inexpensive krummhorns using ABS plastic and plastic reeds. They were far cheaper than wooden krummhorns, and were intended to be quite popular with schools and amateur groups.
In actual fact, they didn't play like wooden krummhorns, they didn't sound like wooden krummhorns, they were as hard (sometimes harder) to maintain, and you won't find them in Kelischek's catalog anymore: the only one to last is the Kelhorn, which GK designed and made to act as an inexpensive bass. It has lasted because it is cheapish, small, convenient, and nothing like an historical instrument at all. Likewise, the turtleback instruments of Ovation are quite serviceable, but not the same as acoustic guitars. Even though they can be cheaper than acoustic guitars, and have many desirable qualities, a lot of acoustic guitarists have no interest in them whatsoever, because the characteristics are not those of acoustic guitars. Others, considering these sensibilities to be on the order of audiophiles who will fight to the death that they can hear things that they can't, couldn't care less, and form a small but paying audience (well, group of consumers.) These instruments are quite 20th/21st century... but they are something considerably less than even recreations of the originals. The world is filled with Middle-eastern lutes and bagpipes, cheap, unplayable, and not-quite-the-real-thing. Do we need more fo them, made from space-age materials, but specifically intended to be cheap? God forbid! ray On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 7:31 PM, Mustafa Umut Sarac <mustafaumutsa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Chris , I think all guitar players would love to own these interesting > instruments. I am researching surbahar and nyckelharpa also. These > instruments are very expensive and hard to construct by hand. I know > beginners mind , they want best wood , finish , neck shape and nothing > else. But this will be change. I first filled my first composite patent > 15 years ago and there were intel 80 MHz at the market and no internet > here. Printers were printing extremelly basic shaped and small , raw > products.Everything is changing sometimes fast sometimes slowly. If you > think , fender , gibson and rickenbacker is producing the same product > for 60 years. They are creating new models but everyone buys 4001 , les > paul etc. > > When thinking lutes , Bigger the instrument , more strings may be > finished with polyurethane finish might go well. > > I think I have to collect plan drawings. This is what I will do this > summer. > > Than a small ad at guitar player with a big padua theorbo at hand will > sell it. > > Ovation is using very big molds and injection molding machines. They > use dead technology and rapid prototyping will kill it. They use wood > veneer fiberglass composite and sound is itchy. > > > > > > Best , > > > > Mustafa Umut Sarac > > > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
