I just had the great pleasure of visiting MIM - the recently opened Musical Instrument Museum - in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is a beautiful and spacious museum. Music traditions from all around the world are displayed by region or country with authentic instruments and many fascinating field videos showing the amazing artistry and musical expression of our fellow humans of every culture.
http://www.themim.org/ Although the museum has oodles of Ouds, and Guitars galore, they - sadly - have only one lone Lute on display: a 10 course lute made by Mathias Durvie, Paris, 1974. It is ironic that there are many lutes in europe that remain in the museum storage rooms for lack of exhibit space, yet (although I cannot speak for the museum) MIM seem to have plenty of exhibit space... but only one lute :( -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
