Dear Anthony and All, I can only say from my experience that lutes continue to improve with age. I made a lute in 1982 which I still play regularly and it has just got better and better over the years. I have several other lutes made twenty years ago which seem to have improved over that time. It remains to be seen whether they will continue to improve over the next twenty years....
Changes also occur on a much shorter time scale. When a new lute is first strung it is sometimes disappointing, sounding rather disjointed in different registers and possibly lacking in sustain in the treble. This improves over a period of hours and days as the strings stretch and the instrument "takes up the tension". It may take weeks or months for a more integrated sound to develop, and it seems (though it is only a matter of intuition) that being kept well in tune and played regularly helps this process. Sorry there's no science here, only intuition. One suggestion which seems to make sense is that the resins in the soundboard harden with age and make it stiffer (or at least lessen any damping effect of soft resin). Old wood is dry, but changes in humidity and temperature in the environment seem to affect things - have you noticed how some days the same instrument just isn't "happy" and seems different? I think violinists have commented on this as well. Best wishes, Martin P.S. I forgot to mention the issue of clarity in the midrange. It has been observed of the old restored lutes that they are better than modern ones in exactly this respect. I'm pleased to say that it has commonly been observed that my lutes have this clarity as well! Don't ask me how.... To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
