Steve wrote: >My first thought when looking at this lute was it sure looked like my Paki >lute. The lute on the ebay site is very similar to mine. As i mentioned i got mine from EMS. I was to buy the same thing in kit first but didn't have too much "kit-time". This is the picture of the lute as kit: http://www.e-m-s.com/news/Lute%20Kit%20.JPG "Paki Lute" to many is this so called "Mitre Lute" on this page: http://www.e-m-s.com/cat/stringinstruments/lutes/lute.htm The questionable lute is similar to the one below the "mitre-thing" on the page: EMS lute. Recently i saw many different photos of this "mitre" lute and it ain't looking pretty. Bizare shape, lots of dents, extremely heavy (double weight of what a lute should be), fat, almost parallel neck..etc. One nice thing though is these guys that had such lute and took the time to document their changes and improvements. Also, these photos of the EMS lute on the page look a little crappy too--the lute i received is not at all coresponding to this feel from the photos. This EMS lute may have its parts also fabricated in Pakiland or may-be not, to me it makes no difference. The box of what i got is indeed just like pakistani lute box. One thing is for sure--it is leveled (neck and resonating plate), it is light, blah, blah, etc, (as i already described it), and has this really nice cristal sound with really nice resonation and response (the strings they give suck big time though--mean the lower wound courses..). I don't know about the kinky while plate on the pegbox bottom--mine is not like that. In short again--perfect student lute (appart from this bridge thing i had to readjust..) I've heard real dull sounding expensive instruments done by luthier, with incrusted ebony rim on the edge, knowork 3D(lol) rose etc,.. but i'm not gonna insist in praising it in case mine just happened to be nice by chance --haha. Anyways, i reply with this to prevent people confusing this model of lute with the "mitre" thing. What was the eBay price of this lute by the way? Here is this English Shop i got mine from. They also sell harpsichord kits, harps and all kinds of stuff. They're here: http://www.e-m-s.com/news/workshop.html
Hi All, > > My first thought when looking at this lute was it sure looked like my Paki > lute. This based on the apparent raw pine soundboard not quite quartersawn > (or "quartersawn" from young trees), and its grain orientation-- not quite > parallel with the long axis of the lute. Although it wouldn't be conclusive, > the materials in the back appear the same. Finally, the pattern of the peg > ends is the same. The real major difference is the pattern of the rose-- > something fairly easy to change where the price of hand work is really low. > > I also looked at the harps he has for sale. There is a small 'world music' > instrument store not for from where I live. They have a collection of > similarly made and decorated harps. They are from Pakistan. > > Sooo... I took the bull by the horns and sent an email to the guy who runs > the shop in Germany offering the lute, etc. His answer to my question about > the origin of the lute: "These lutes are made by musical instrument makers in > Asia, especially for me..." He didn't get more specific. > > I think he's pretty proud of his stuff because his prices are way high, even > if one considers the dollar and euro at one to one. There are a couple music > stores in Florida selling a similar inventory-- Paki lutes, harps, bagpipes, > practice chanters etc. They advertise essentially the same lute on US eBay > frequently for prices in the three to four hundred dollar range. > > My two cents worth. > > Best, > Steve > > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > ------------------------------------------ Faites un voeu et puis Voila ! www.voila.fr --
