A resounding yes to both of these last responses. I admit to the overwhelming confusion and the resultant choice to purchase from known quantities at high prices.
The LS article completely ignored the addition confusion of "how do you want it strung - gut (and what type of basses?), nylgut, carbon fiber, nylon, silk, ...". That is an excursion in its own right. It is sometimes overwhelming enough to want to play early music on the classical guitar just to avoid the confusion... luckily not completely overwhelming. Simple guidelines to help novices decide how to enter this cornucopia of options would be immensely helpful. Until then buy and try seems to be the rule of the day. Regards David -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of David Van Edwards Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 4:03 AM To: willsam...@yahoo.co.uk Cc: 'Lute List' Subject: [LUTE] Re: What makes a good lute? This seems a good moment to wheel out the piece from several years ago that still alas applies! Best wishes, David From the LS newsletter, November 1993: Buying a lute, 1551 =================== Good morrow, Master Laux; I wish to buy a lute. Good morrow, kind Sir; here are 998 for you to choose from. Would you have it large, medium or small? If the 392 large lutes in this small chest are not your liking, I have another 175 upstairs. Thank you, Master Laux; I will take this medium-sized one. Buying a lute, 1993 =================== I'd like to buy a lute please. Ah, you'd like to order a lute. Do you want a 4-course for the medieval repertoire, or a 5-course for the 15th century, or a 6-course, which covers most of the 16th century, or a 7-course for the Elizabethan repertoire, or an 8-course which gives you just that little bit more flexibility, or a 9-course, which takes you up to late Dowland, or a 10-course for the early 17th century, or an 11-course for the French repertoire, or a 12-course, which was probably much more common than most people think, or a 13-course? Erm... Of course, there are two different kinds of 13-course Of course. Now for the string length, I can do you 45cm for a treble, or 53cm in a, or 60cm in g, or 57cm if you've got small hands, or 64cm in f# (that's a g lute at aA5, of course), or 67 cm in f, or 71cm in e, or 78cm in d, or 88cm in c, or 93cm for a great bass. Or I can do you a really little one if you want to use gut strings. Erm... Now you can gave the body after Maler, or Frei, or Bosch, or Gerle, or Hieber, or Vernere, or Magno Dieffopruchar the Elder, or Magno Dieffopruchar the Younger, or Hartung, or Greif, or Hess, or Hellmer, or Langenwalder, or Buechenberg, or Unverdorben, or Mest, or Raillich, or Giogio Sellas, or Matteo Sellas, or Coch, or Tielke, or Schelle, or Eberle, or Widhalm, or Christian Hoffmann, or Martin Hoffmann, or Ian Harwood, or Zachary Taylor. Erm... You can have the ribs in sycamore, or Bird's-eye maple, or figured ash, or unfigured ash, or plum, or cherry, or yew, or cypress, or rosewood, or kingwood, or snakewood, or walnut, or ebony, or wenge, or cocobolo, or cryptomeria, or ecologically justifiable very realistic imitation of ivory. I don't do fibreglass these days. Erm... You can have the neck in the style of... No, no, don't bother about the neck. Well the varnish can be either three parts linseed oil... Look, do it however you like, please. How soon can you have it finished? Erm... At 07:16 +0000 8/4/12, willsam...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: This is a good discussion inasmuch as it demonstrates a fair diversity in what we look for in a lute. I think it's tough for us compared to classical guitarists who can go to a shop and spend a day or two trying out a range of guitars, playing and comparing before deciding which one to buy. As lutenists we are seldom if ever are in this situation - at least in terms of fine instruments. Buying from an established maker involves placing an order then waiting months, sometimes years for the lute. Even then there is no guarantee that the instrument will sound and feel exactly as you had hoped. Another approach that I know some fine players have used is to keep an eye on new makers who build on spec and try their instruments, snapping one up at a favourable price if they find it suits them. This would work less well for a beginner who has less knowledge of what to look for - so we can find ourselves in a situation where experts play instruments by unknown makers and beginners spend very large sums ordering from makers of high repute. Is that a fair summary? Bill Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media -----Original Message----- From: "David Smith" <d...@dolcesfogato.com> Sender: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 18:13:53 To: 'Lute List'<lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Subject: [LUTE] Re: What makes a good lute? Just to add my two cents. My lutes are a joy for the visual elegance they have, the artistry of the makers, the beauty of their sound, and the physical sensation of playing their strings. I would be hard pressed to say which is more important but without all of them I would be dissatisfied with them. >From the simplest lute (a 1968 Harwood and Isaacs that Donna Curry used to play) to the 2011 Barber&Harris and Rinzo Salvador lutes (very ornate) they all have their own souls to expose. My challenge is to learn what they have to offer and how to bring that out. For me this is a new journey. The strings matter (gut, nylgut, synthetics) and each type changes the character. My participation in this journey is to learn what works for me. It may not be the same as what works for anyone else but I am learning immense amounts from this community. So, in my judgment, there is no one thing that makes a good lute. The most important is the lutenist learning the lute and how to make it sing but all the other aspects also matter. Anyway, this is the view from a novice. Regards David -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Sauvage Valery Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 11:40 AM To: 'Lute List' Subject: [LUTE] Re: What makes a good lute? I agree with this post... -----Message d'origine----- De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De la part de A.J. Padilla MD Objet : [LUTE] Re: What makes a good lute? In medicine, we have a saying, "The most important part of the stethoscope lies between the earpieces." It's in the fingers (or rather, the corpus striatum in the brain). Al To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- The Smokehouse, 6 Whitwell Road, Norwich, NR1 4HB England. Telephone: + 44 (0)1603 629899 Website: http://www.vanedwards.co.uk --
