Roman-
The article as it is now looks good to me. The only possible legitimate
sale thwartation I can conceive of would be that of a good instrument by
a builder that is not a model of what your article deems to be his best
style- say an unusually fine vihuela or 6-course from a luthier more
famous for, say, his Roman chitarrone or French theorbi. But of course
that's a stretch, you merely offered perfectly legit guidelines.
In that vein I would suggest that you might supply an updated list of
luthiers- or link to such existing lists, the major lute societies
maintain such lists.
Your point no. 8 is quite well taken- and I suspect the source of most
of your "unpleasant conversations". There are indeed some totally out of
touch, stubborn ignorami who refuse to believe:
1. That the ever-changing, (usually improving) early instrument
production standards have made your old treasure worth much less. (No,
your 6-fret, 30 pound, 7 course "Renaissance lute" Hauser knock-off with
the Wooly Rhinoceros rebar bridge saddle is NOT worth $9,000). Sorry,
but that treasure is now an obsolete, worthless curiosity. What's called
a "wall-hanger" in the world of beautiful, but no longer functional objets.
2. The market controls you, not the other way around. An item- esp. an
old, used item (no, I'm not talking about a Sellas, Strad, or Maler) is
worth exactly what somebody is willing to pay for it; and no more. Go
ahead, don't lower the price- just grow old while your "lute" sits on
the lute list, eBay, coffee shop bulletin board, or wherever.
P.S. - I would love to find a nice, sound, 10 course Franciolini- but it
has to be genuine, and less than $450! ;-)
Dan
On 10/15/2014 8:30 AM, r.turov...@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Collective Wisdom,
Recently I had a few unpleasant conversations with some lute sellers,
whose sales were thwarted by the advice given by me.
Therefore I've decided to update and revise an old article of mine to
reflect the practicalities of buying used lutes. So now I'm canvassing
for ideas that can be added to it -
http://polyhymnion.org/swv/theaxe.html
Reply publicly!
RT
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