> but I secretly wonder...maybe classical guitar is a better and cheaper way > to go...?
its different. The string tension on a classical guitar is a lot higher than the string tension on a lute. The lute is a lot 'lighter' in construction than a gutar. I was seated next to a tenor viola da gamba at one collegium musicum practice, my lute surprised me by vibrating sympathetically as the gamba played. The strings of the lute could be seen in motion. You will find some barre chords easier on the lute because of the lower tension, you will find it more sensitive to how you 'grippe' the strings. Nylon-strung twelve string guitars are not common, but if you can find one you will be close to the feel of a vihuela except for string tension issues. Posture for a lute differs from that recomended for the guitar. Right hand technique also differs; medieval lutes are thought mainly to have been played with a plectrum (short length of goose or eagle feather), the up/down strokes remain as players abandoned the quill for thumb and index fingers, with the odd use of middle finger as a thumb alternate, but keeping the arm motions that went with the quill. Iconography in this era generally shows the elbow of the right arm at or just above the endclasp, which implies a fairly low, almost horizontal neck. Later on the elbow is more often seen higher on the bowl, closer to where a guitarist would place it (raising the neck higher). Later we believe this mutated into freer use of the right hand which is seen in modern classical guitar technique. The bowl of a lute makes holding it an interesting challenge. A small cord tied between buttons on the neck and the heel clasp of the lute can be hooked over a button on your doublet (what, no doublet? gadzooks) -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
