During this period most things of any use or of desirable nature were either controlled by governments or Craft Guilds. Yew fell into that category. It was considered a strategic material for the making of Long Bows. There were restrictions placed on other uses of the wood and closely regulated from the areas where the wood was harvested. I suspect that the reason the Lutes with backs as we have all seen in pictures etc., were made of so many staves that they were in fact surplus bow blanks. If one understands that the cross bow and black powder had made the traditional Long Bow and the armored knight virtually obsolete it is not too hard to imagine that there was an abundance of wood all ready cut into billets ready for shaping into Long Bows. This would account for the multiribed Yew wood Lutes. Interesting enough I do not remember seeing too many Lutes with this many staves being made of other woods though I am sure there were a few. In my opinion Yew was a desirable wood because it was both light and extremely hard. It is also possible when wood cut the way bow wood was cut provided a resonant quality because of the hard wood soft wood interplay.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Shepherd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 2:49 AM Subject: Re: The ecological sustainable lute & luthier > > Dear All, > > Just a few thoughts on yew: > > We know from the letters to which Denys referred that the lutemakers used wood cut for bow staves. I don't know what kind of size piece is required for a longbow but I wonder whether this explains the preference for multirib lutes (because the wood was not wide enough for wide ribs - OK there are some lutes with ribs around 40mm wide like the Venere C36). Perhaps it also explains the origin of the use of heart/sap ribs to get a striped effect. > > Some people are convinced that yew was in demand from the old makers because of its acoustic properties, but good though it is, I wonder about the decorative aspect. Many of the surviving lutes have survived because they were made of costly materials (ebony, ivory, yew?) and/or were highly decorated. The multirib striped yew back may have been a costly rarity (and certainly a thing of great beauty) even in the 16th century. If I remember correctly, one of the lutemakers complained that he could only get enough yew for three or four lutes per year - from what did he and his (factory) workshop make the other 996 lutes? Presumably less rare and costly materials such as various kinds of maple. > > Incidentally, the yew trees in English churchyards are beautiful, spectacular, old and full of occult and folkloric associations, but would have been useless for longbows (or lutes). The fantastic close-grained, straight, knot-free wood required for these purposes grew in forests (and in a cold climate), whole stands of yew trees. It makes me weep just to think of it... > > Best wishes, > > Martin > > > > >
