Dear Joshua,
My father bought one in Montreal long before I was born. I remember when I was seven or so really wanting to play it when I grew up. I took a few classical guitar lessons on it in high school but it never really projected and the spacing was pretty tight though I got used to it. A few years ago he mailed it to me --just wrapped in newspaper, no case, cross-country-- so I took it to a local luthier in San Francisco to make a more practical lute of it. He took off the end clasp, replaced the neck, top and pegbox and re-located the bridge. Now I have a very nice 6-c bass lute and I play it often.
Technically it's a little short (67.5 cm) for a real bass lute and would be happier in E but I usually need an instrument in D so I string it heavier. Btw, I measured a friend's bass viol yesterday and the viol was a centimeter shorter. The luthier also told me it was built and braced pretty heavily and that was responsible for its lack of volume.
Welcome to Luteworld! A lot of good music, history, and other players. If you have the chance, try to come to the LSA seminar next summer. My first LSA seminars when I was ~20 were VERY educational --and a lot of fun. Or maybe it was those goofy "professionals", Paul-O and Toyohiko running around with their damn squirt guns.... Either way, good times.
Sean On Oct 28, 2007, at 4:34 AM, Joshua E. Horn wrote:
How common are six string lutes like this one?: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute/Kay/lute12.jpg -- Joshua E. Horn [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.fastmail.fm - The way an email service should be To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
