Morgan wrote: mc> I wonder if you could relatively inexpensively construct a lute (the bowl, mc> at minimum) from carbon fiber (like some acoustic guitars) or molded plastic mc> (like an Ovation guitar), and what it would sound like? mc>
I was wondering this exact thing myself, with more than a passing interest (my brother-in-law is a materials scientist in the carbon-fibre / fiberglass game, with manufacturing contacts all around SE Asia). There are a number of open questions, such as mold costs, but the biggest would be the soundboard. That would need to be wood. And then there is the look of the thing. My other thought on doing a instrument like that would be to add a pickup and end-pin jack out of the box (think: new market). Now for the business case :) I figure the price point would need to be in the USD$600 - 800 range to make this a viable option, including case. .. mark To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
