Hello all, My name is John Yentes. I have been a classical guitarist and violist for many years (among many other instruments) and am beginning my foray into the world of the lute. I am currently living in Japan and am wondering if anyone knows of or is selling a used instrument that I could purchase or perhaps if you might also know of some less expensive luthiers for decent quality instruments. I don't mind buying something a bit less than perfect as I have already resigned myself to the idea of visiting a professional who can adjust the instrument for my own specific needs. I'm looking for an 8 course lute or perhaps a baroque lute. I'm not quite sure which I would prefer to start with, but I would be very grateful for any information I could acquire in regards to the pros and cons of starting on either instrument respectively in regard to my previous experience as a guitarist . My budget is only about 1500 dollars. I have found some lutes on eBay from a Turkish maker named Sa! adettin Sandi and his son. Apparently they are of fairly good quality from what I have read. I have also been considering some instruments from the early music shop. If anyone could provide any info for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I enjoy listening to music from the Italian renaissance such as Piccinnini and I also enjoy Dowland quite a bit. I am well versed in the works of baroque music available for the lute as well though, so perhaps what I am after is an instrument that can play a bit of everything or at least has some degree of versatility. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear back from some of you.
John Sent from my iPhone To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
