- And - they're in stock. This is quite an important consideration. 'Real' makers have long waiting lists. But the enthusiastic newcomer wants to get his/her lute NOW, not in 2012 (or 2013, or...). Delayed gratification is all very well, but how many people have that sort of patience? How many never get started on the lute as a result?
All power to cheap, available lutes! P On 23 November 2010 14:04, G. Crona <[1]kalei...@gmail.com> wrote: Here they are Chris, your "200 Dollar Lutes" :) [2]http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_renaissance_lute_8_15.htm?sid=97 53fb3d0aa7c9b6ed40b37c1dab3d28 [3]http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_renaissance_laute.htm?sid=9753fb 3d0aa7c9b6ed40b37c1dab3d28 can't vouch for quality though! G. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Wilke" <[4]chriswi...@yahoo.com> To: "Margaret Munck" <[5]meg.mu...@gmail.com> Cc: "lute mailing list list" <[6]l...@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:45 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: EMS Lutes All, I think the real issues with student lute pricing is that very few take it up as their first instrument. The vast majority come from some guitar background and they will have already spent a fair amount of money on other guitars or other instruments by the time they get to the lute. I think my own situation is not atypical: I already had a bachelor's degree in classical guitar performance before I even touched a lute. Just before I graduated, I mentioned to my teacher how much I enjoyed playing lute transcriptions. He said I could buy a cheap lute "for around $200" if I "wanted to mess around with it on the side." The thought had never occurred to me and it hit me like a lightening bolt: play lute music... on a LUTE!?!? Needless to say, I searched for months for that $200 lute. All of the instruments on Wayne's page were hours and hours away from me. I wasn't about to send $3,000 to some random person in California or Spain. I really couldn't believe there was no one within an hour or two's drive selling a lute so that I could at least try it out. After a while I was getting discouraged and was ready to give up. By chance I happened across a big name lutenist online selling a 10-course. It was way more money than I wanted to spend and my fiance was a bit miffed, but, knowing next to nothing about lutes, this seemed like a sure bet. I have to admit, I probably had some stars in my eyes and this was no doubt partially a factor in buying this particular lute. I suppose it worked out for the best: I'm now almost finished with my doctorate in lute performance and she's still with me. I wonder - Would things have turned out differently if I'd been able to get a cheapy in my hands two weeks after I spoke to my teacher? Would I have kept up the interest with an inferior instrument? Still, who knows if the instrument with name recognition hadn't come my way? Chris To get on or off this list see list information at [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Peter Martin 24 The Mount St Georges Second Avenue Newcastle under Lyme ST5 8RB tel: 0044 (0)1782 662089 mob: 0044 (0)7971 232614 [8]peter.l...@gmail.com -- References 1. mailto:kalei...@gmail.com 2. http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_renaissance_lute_8_15.htm?sid=9753fb3d0aa7c9b6ed40b37c1dab3d28 3. http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_renaissance_laute.htm?sid=9753fb3d0aa7c9b6ed40b37c1dab3d28 4. mailto:chriswi...@yahoo.com 5. mailto:meg.mu...@gmail.com 6. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 8. mailto:peter.l...@gmail.com