Hi Michael: There is no way I can know for sure, or anyone else for that matter, but a good guess it is the initials of the builder. Often Lute building was a family operation involving sons and cousins. It is of course possible that the initials belong to the maker that made the modifications. In any case they had to have been put there when the top was off. According to Lundberg this was not an uncommon practice for the builder that modified an existing Lute to also put his identification on the inside of the instrument.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Thames" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 8:36 PM Subject: Mystery intitials > Vance, > I might add that stamped inside the Berr are the initials L B in very = > large letters. I wonder who L Berr is? > Michael Thames > Luthier > www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com > --
