On Tuesday 18 January 2005 04:17, you wrote: hello alfonso, It's indeed interesting to read references on lutes, but to put it in public on a list is often not a good idea. You can publish the success stories, but often it's more interesting to hear about what people didn't like so much about a lutemaker, like bad fitting pegs, problems after several years, bad decorations, delivery and financial problems etc. etc.. Negative stories however are subjective and one should take care by putting such things on a public email list. It's better to ask for some opinions to be send off-list. I think we should always take into account that many lutemakers need to live from what they make and they are easily harmed by a few negative stories on the internet. The choice for a certain lutemaker is also a function of price and quality. you've payed a nice sum for the malcolm prior I presume, which is an excellent lutemaker (for what I've seen at the early music market in Utrecht some years ago), but for other people the price can be too high. The difficult stories start when you want to buy a lute from somebody who is not very well-known, unexperienced but perhaps a good lutemaker. Price can be low, but quality too or not, but can change in years. So, again, to read success stories is nice but if it's useful I do not know. Taco
> Dear All, > > I am back again after an intense period of work that did not allow me > to keep up reading the messages. > > Now that I am on the market for a new 10 or 11-course lute I realized > how difficult it is to choose the right maker among the many ones > available today. > It is difficult to get references from reliable players and most of the > makers have a long waiting list so they do not have instruments in > stock for the potential customers to try and have an idea of their > work. > I though it could be a good idea if we could introduce our instruments > to the lutelist with some information about them and some description > of their sound and qualities. > I would be also a good way to promote young, less experienced makers, > encouraging us to order from them. > > To start off I will introduce my instruments to the list: > > 1) 7-course lute by Malcolm Prior (1998) after Venere. Multi rib > rosewood back. 58.5 cm. > Excelent! Very deep singing sound full of low harmonics. Quite loud. > The only little problem is that it doesn't "speak" so quickly. For the > rest I am very happy with it. The level of craftsmanship is mint. You > can listen to it at: > > http://www.lutevoice.com/samplesen.html > > 2) Theorbo by Nico van der Waals (2000). 82 cm/ 164 cm (long neck). Yew > multi rib back. It is based on his own design. Beautiful sound for solo > repertoire. The bowl is too small compared to the string length and I > have the feeling when I play it with orchestras and ensembles that I > would be happier with a louder sound. The level of craftsmanship is > really good but not mint. > > I have also a vihuela but the quality is not good enough to be mention > here. > > I am looking forward to know about your instruments! > Many greetings, > > Alfonso marin > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
