Indeed the price of new lutes is too low. I bought my Rubio in 1968 with excess money left over from a summer job while I was an undergraduate student. I was just astounded at how much craftsmanship I got for $600. Maybe that is why Rubio eventually quit making lutes and switched to harpsichords.
A. John Mardinly, Ph.D., P.E. Principal Materials Nanoanalysis Engineer EMail: john.mardi...@asu.edu Cell: 408-921-3253 (does not work in TEM labs) Titan Lab: 480-727-5651 NION UltraSTEM Lab: 480-727-5652 JEOL ARM 200 Lab: 480-727-5653 2010F Lab: 480-727-5654 Office: 480-965-7946 John Cowley Center for HREM, LE-CSSS B134B Bateman Physical Sciences Building Arizona State University PO Box 871704 Tempe, AZ 85287-1704 -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Martin Shepherd Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 11:15 AM To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: beginners, and practicalities of buying lutes Well, Roman, I can see why you upset a few people. I think mentioning lute makers or players by name, whether what you say about them is positive or negative, is just a bad idea - and arguably downright rude. If your comment is positive, someone reading it might wonder if you have an axe (sorry, no pun intended) to grind; if negative, your opinion is hard to judge and is almost inevitably biased and based on limited evidence. The price of a lute is difficult to make a judgement about. The price of new lutes is way too low - consider what a decent hand-made cello would cost! That's not because cello makers are greedy people, it's just that the price of a cello more accurately reflects the amount of work and expertise which goes into it. Even a cello maker earns less than a plumber or electrician. The price of secondhand lutes is more difficult. A good lute gets better with age, and perhaps the price should reflect that, but it's surprising how few people ask more than they paid, even if they've had the lute for a number of years. So sometimes there are excellent bargains to be had in the "for sale" columns. My site also has a page on buying a lute, including advice on what to look for in a secondhand lute. All the best, Martin On 15/10/2014 17:30, 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 > --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
