Hello John, I echo David van Ooijen's recommendation that you hire one first! When I started that didn't occur to me unfortunately, so I thought I'd share my experience with the budget end of the market...
The first lute I had was a Pakistani made lute of the same variety that the sell at Thomann, the site David Morales mentions; and I would agree with him on that. Avoid it like the plague – it was huge and completely unplayable. I struggled on with it for a while thinking that perhaps I was just terrible, but came to the conclusion I should try another before giving up. So instead I purchased an Early Music Shop lute, and although I'm acutely aware of it's limitations, it is so very much better. It is, as you will read everywhere, heavier than a luthier made lute, but when the strings were replaced its sound was actually quite pleasant! It's required a little bit of work to make it better; work on the nut and replacing the frets etc, but there are some good tips on improving it here which you may be aware of already: http://john.redmood.com/improvebargainlute.html Nonetheless, if you can afford better, definitely go better! I've never handled the Turkish lutes you mention, but I have read that they are pretty heavily constructed and a bit more Oud-like. Looking at their price point, I'd question if they are worth it; the price is getting towards what a luthier made renaissance student lute would be here in the UK (as an example, here's one made by James Marriage http://www.jminstruments.com/instruments.aspx ). Good luck, Jim > On 4 Nov 2016, at 09:23, Jack <jackyen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello all, > > My name is John Yentes. I have been a classical guitarist and violist for > many years (among many other instruments) and am beginning my foray into the > world of the lute. I am currently living in Japan and am wondering if anyone > knows of or is selling a used instrument that I could purchase or perhaps if > you might also know of some less expensive luthiers for decent quality > instruments. I don't mind buying something a bit less than perfect as I have > already resigned myself to the idea of visiting a professional who can adjust > the instrument for my own specific needs. I'm looking for an 8 course lute > or perhaps a baroque lute. I'm not quite sure which I would prefer to start > with, but I would be very grateful for any information I could acquire in > regards to the pros and cons of starting on either instrument respectively in > regard to my previous experience as a guitarist . My budget is only about > 1500 dollars. I have found some lutes on eBay from a Turkish maker named ! Sa! > adettin Sandi and his son. Apparently they are of fairly good quality from > what I have read. I have also been considering some instruments from the > early music shop. If anyone could provide any info for me, I would greatly > appreciate it. I enjoy listening to music from the Italian renaissance such > as Piccinnini and I also enjoy Dowland quite a bit. I am well versed in the > works of baroque music available for the lute as well though, so perhaps what > I am after is an instrument that can play a bit of everything or at least has > some degree of versatility. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear back from > some of you. > > > John > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
