I have 2 "old lutes" , a 10-course lute by James Mackie (1980), and a 13-course BVurkholtzer model by Richard Berg (1984). Both sound great, and have required some "surgery" through the times.
ed At 07:30 AM 4/22/2012, Martin Shepherd wrote: >Dear All, > >As far as violins are concerned, I'm sure the reason we're still >playing instruments built in the 17th C (albeit now radically >rebuilt) is that since it first appeared in the 16th C, the violin >has not only changed little (it still has four strings, for >instance) it has also been in constant use. Lutes passed out of use >altogether, so the only instruments which survived were those which >were valuable for non-musical reasons such as being made of valuable >materials (ivory, ebony, etc) and/or were pretty enough that people >wanted to hang them on the wall as decoration. It's such a shame we >don't have any surviving lutes from before the middle of the 16th C. > >Lutes are delicate, so even those which have been "restored" to >playable condition have had major surgery to achieve this state - >the Rauwolf lute owned by Jacob Lindberg being a good example. > >The oldest lute I still own is my no.2 (7c, 67.3cm, with a yew >back), whose labels says "November 1982", so it's coming up to its >30th birthday. I don't think it has changed much over the years, >and (almost uniquely) has never had a loose bar, so the soundboard >has never been lifted. If anything it seems to have got better >through the years, as seems to be usual with lutes. It has been >well used (not thrashed) for all of that time. I also have nos 3 >(6c, 53.5cm, 1983) and 4 (6c, 60cm, 1985) and they are also in >continuous use and seem to have if anything improved with age. All >three feature on my website soundfiles. > >I'm optimistic that lutes being made now will have a long future >ahead of them, as long as people want to play them. > >Best wishes, > >Martin > >On 22/04/2012 08:09, William Samson wrote: >> I agree with most of the comments you make, Chris. >> >> I have a couple of lutes that are between 30 and 40 years old - one of >> them (with a Sitka spruce soundboard) sounded better when new and now >> sounds quite harsh in comparison to its earlier state. The other one >> (Swiss pine soundboard) has improved with age and although the bridge >> had to be glued back on a few years ago, I find it is easier now to >> produce a nice tone from it than when it was new. The caveat is, of >> course, that all this is quite subjective and my technique has changed >> radically over the past 40 years - from guitar technique with nails, >> guitar technique without nails, pinky-down-thumb-inside technique, and >> nowadays the thumb creeping outside and also playing closer to the >> bridge to emulate how I think the old ones played their lutes in the >> 17th century. >> >> Where I take issue, though, is that as far as I can tell Mace doesn't >> advocate regular replacement of the soundboard. He does, however, give >> instructions on how to carefully remove the soundboard, repair loose >> bars, cracks etc, and glue it back down satisfactorily once repairs are >> done. >> >> I keep hearing stories of lutes, just a decade or two old, having their >> soundboards replaced with brand new ones. I can't understand the >> motivation behind this unless the old soundboard was made of very poor >> wood or very badly made. Generally speaking, though, I find that the >> older soundboards are made from better wood, with a tighter grain, than >> is generally available nowadays. My gut feeling is that the tone and >> response of the instrument is dominated by the soundboard, so replacing >> a soundboard with a new one could radically alter the way the >> instrument sounds. I wonder what seemingly irreparable soundboard >> faults cause players to throw away the whole soundboard in exchange for >> a new one? >> >> Anyway, if you are thinking of replacing your soundboard, I'll happily >> pay postage and packing expenses if you'll send your old one to me :) >> >> Bill >> From: Christopher Stetson<[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Sunday, 22 April 2012, 2:59 >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Why no active historical lutes? >> Hi, everyone, >> I've been waiting for one of the luthiers on the list to reply, but >> since they haven't, I'll toss in that it's my understanding that the >> physical forces of strings pulling on the glued-down bridges of >> lutes, >> which then torque the bridge against the very thin soundboard, are >> quite different from those of strings pushing down on violin bridges, >> which transmit the force downward onto the more robust, carved >> soundboards, all of which results in lutes tending to come apart more >> quickly than violins do. Also, I believe that in the opinion of >> some, >> at least, because of these different structures and forces, while >> violins tend to sound better as they age, the sound quality of lutes >> (and guitars with glued-down bridges) tends to deteriorate over time. >> Perhaps some luthier list-members could confirm, deny, or nuance? >> Doesn't Mace talk of having his soundboards replaced on a regular >> basis? >> Best to all, and keep playing. >> Chris. >> On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Edward Mast<[1][1][email protected]> >> wrote: >> I think one or two may have survived un-modified (perhaps the >> "Messiah"?). Also, Yo Yo Ma 'de-modified' one of his strad cellos >> (I believe I've read this), reconfiguring it as a Baroque >> instrument. (How much of a shame the modifications are depends >> upon >> who you're talking with, of course). >> -Ned >> On Apr 21, 2012, at 5:00 PM, Sam Chapman wrote: >> > Just for the record, I don't think any of those Stradivarius >> violins >> > are in anything like their original condition. Which is a real >> shame. >> > >> > All the best, >> > >> > Sam >> > >> > On 20 April 2012 20:23, Herbert Ward >> <[2][2][email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> >> >> According to Wikipedia, there are many Strativarius violins >> >> in active use today: >> >> >> [3][3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >> >> >> >> But I never hear of anyone playing a historical lute routinely. >> >> In fact, it seems rare for anyone to even handle one. >> >> >> >> Is this because the thin soundboard becomes fragile with age? >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> >> [4][4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Sam Chapman >> > Oetlingerstrasse 65 >> > 4057 Basel >> > (0041) 79 530 39 91 >> > >> > >> -- >> References >> 1. mailto:[5][email protected] >> 2. mailto:[6][email protected] >> 3. [7]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >> 4. [8]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> -- >> >>References >> >> 1. mailto:[email protected] >> 2. mailto:[email protected] >> 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >> 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> 5. mailto:[email protected] >> 6. mailto:[email protected] >> 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >> 8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [email protected] voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
