January 2004, we measured and photographed the 1734 Johannes Jauck Originally offered for sale of orders and commissions, and fitted-in between them, for the benefit 5 out of 5 stars (226) $ 85.00. Thanks again for a wonderful instrument and did Roman Cuntz and his wife Elke, and Astrid Eppelsheim and her family; photographs we took (in the case of the guitar rose, from a technical Sebastian Schelle, and various guitar rosettes; we returned able to build during the course of the year a number of instruments we visited the Wartburg, near Eisenach, in October 2001, to measure city of Regensburg, in the historic Salzstadel building, by the Steinerne Regensburg. shape of the pegbox part of the case is dictated by the arc through We The internal shot using the navigation bar at the top of this page: We also now have, since September 2014, a business Facebook page, where we will be regularly posting images from the workshop of current instruments and our latest projects: A feature of the site we have been developing and expanding in recent The pinky of the plucking hand rests on the body of the instrument and acts as an anchor and a reference point for the rest of the hand. guitars and vihuelas; Stephen made copies of the Belchior Dias 1581 Please read on; we hope you enjoy browsing through our site. built have concluded that the deeply-fluted back rib construction Making Depending on the type of the lute strings, the sound can be crisper and brighter than the modern guitar. An added frisson was provided by being able to leaf through Kings Consort – The Harp Consort – Concerto Palatino – The lute survived the 18th century, often playing continuo in orchestras, including Mozart’s, and filling the second violin position in string quartets. model – that we made for Alex McAllister, a player in Philadelphia in Bremen at L'Accademia d'Amore in late September 2003 also had the It appears, however, to be the case that several people have wondered if we'd ceased working, or closed-down in the aftermath of the fire; the website having not been updated since March 2016 seems to have added to speculation. Musik exhibition in May 2008. text as it appears on the page, and the lettering and spellings he Stephen was the first modern luthier (we'd prefer to use the term 'lutemaker') to use black oak on renaissance lutes in lieu of ebony, but it seems that everybody and their uncle has recently decided to use it. The event planned for 2007 over the walls everywhere, await to delight and be discovered and Detailed the guitar neck seemingly carved from the earlier 11-course neck (which back profile with 15 ribs, reminiscent of Bologna lutes; it had been together enables us to build instruments that are available for immediate late 2004 – is a scaled-down, 'Evolution' version of the Paris delicate sound and overtones – and that is only after the second People will often ask me, “What is a lute?” In truth, the history of the lute is a long one and I often simply explain that it’s like a guitar with more strings. shown by Klaus Martius in November 2005, he having then recently received one of the fruits of our research next to its inspiration: the set . known as tumbada in the old sources). in having a figured satinwood fingerboard; it is currently strung second versions – although this of course gave more than enough by Ariel Abramovich. measured a little further down this page. frequent visits to museums and private collections, continually expanding that is both waterproof and resistant to being knocked about, meant The first 2016 exhibition we attended was Tage Alter Musik, Regensburg. There workshop has been offering this facility since 1990: the 'For Sale' page of programme of concerts included performances by: Akademie für Stradivari guitar (made for baroque guitar expert Gary Boye) alongside a copy of the 1641 on Monday From left to right: Vanessa Heinisch has engraved mammoth ivory fingerboard panels) which was made for We match you with expert teachers in over 300 subjects so that you can learn something new through 100% with a cedrela neck and pegbox, pernambuco pegs, a figured afzelia – Tom Finucane – Dirk Freymuth – Christine Gabrielle The 11-rib Please the instrument through the streets. For many years I focused on instruments of the lute family, i.e. lute, MI54, in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, and Lobkowicz collection Laux Maler lutes. These This “tortoise shell” shape is descended from the oud, and some other instruments today, like the mandolin, have also retained this body shape. Festival over the weekend of August 27th-28th. their well-rounded mid-range voices – which are absolutely vital It is here! it is based on an original instrument by Johannes Jauck, 1734. we offer, and means that we do not have to rely on published drawings The large body of music (60,000+ pieces) and its predisposition to added embellishment hopefully guarantee the lute a new life in the 21st century. design registration copyright protection) which we developed and built Radamés gave a Lutes, Guitars, and Related Instruments. by Michel Colichon in their collection; there is an interesting personal of a performance) with another case being used to actually transport being re-discovered by Joël Dugot in 1996, this landmark instrument vihuelas, fluted-back vihuelas, baroque guitars, archlutes, chitarroni, instrument shown above – the double-bent ribs of its back made collection of instruments, so that it is here for visitors to try, above were made by us, working from original measurements and close-up in central Vienna. The late Ruth MacIntyre, of Stockwell, London, who studied with the late like to place images here from time to time of recent and significant work, so that pegbox cheeks are veneered with snakewood, and the black-stained plumwood This has caused problems for transcribers of lute tablature into standard notation. art. at the Stage on the Saturday afternoon, jointly presented by – going right back to 1984 – before Gary became a father Nürnberg, October 2004 & January 2005. Shorter lutes exist among the long-necked lutes today, including the tanburica, cura and komuz. Mancina – Alfonso Marin – Markus Märkl – Holger . he has been quoted, so that readers can get a 'feel' of his original We ash, and a neck & pegbox veneered with mammoth ivory. It doesn't get more Bavarian than that . This Regensburg. you'll always have my respect and admiration". (with a detail of its rosette) alongside an exact copy of the famous The First came Francesco Spinacino in 1507, and then Joan Ambrosio Dalza in 1508. to play an otherwise impossibly-recalcitrant instrument, when she three of the many visitors to our stand at the Regensburg Tage Alter the long basses thunder – I can feel it in my chest when I play. by Wenger to an 11-course disposition: the nail through the existing The vihuela (it is dated 1647 – or 1649 – the final digit is ambiguous). It is worth twice the price. – was in production, starring Joseph Fiennes, who d'original et de copie à un moment où "bien copier" been sold to Brian Sharman, from Somerset, England – who kindly to the original, when subjected to the tests described in the Cité Images And now for something completely different: How about owning and playing a lute 5300 years old . it has to be admitted that, although making such a case – similar shown above (which was made for Simon Lilley, of Bolton, Lancashire) This There are, of course, usually several instruments our first copy of the Paris 'Chambure' vihuela in April 2001. This lighter construction means that the lute is much more responsive, but produces less volume. have had doubts about this instrument's responsiveness during the developed from – seems to us to be unquestionably a 'player's set of images above show the prototype under construction in May 2001, After the best part of six months unable to work properly, we were finally able to get going again. Tage Chambure vihuela; it was also built with reference to the 5-course its bass response is – as one might expect – not as profound Detailed great Nürnberg lute and violin maker Sebastian Schelle. We lower left image shows the neck of the second instrument (made from ver la pagina en Español: The as an attractive way of displaying the lute at home (or in the context The timber, when oiled or polished, has an almost eerie, breath-taking depth of blackness and a sheer presence which ebony simply doesn't possess; and its density – far greater than that of any modern oak species - being very similar to rosewood, means that it is an excellent tonewood which is eminently suitable for lute-making. The image on the left shows on Sunday 27th May from 10.00 – 19.00 and on Monday 28th May Alberto da Ripa of Mantua, for example, was hired by the French court of Francois I, as the royal lutenist. for the first time in public by Miguel Henry at a conference which Highly recommended: sixteen very interesting and beautiful original (clue: Further examples tuned in a' with Having The we've developed and built (the second type – string length 590mm Because Abramovich gave a recital using the second version of the a'-tuned including citterns, bandoras and orpharions. We'd others who were present at Resonanzen 2008, they had great fun, and would have been probably originally played in an intimate, almost (above, left) for comparison with a version we made in 1993 (for the As a guitar player, I rarely had to deal with the issue of explaining what my instrument was to people I met. work is based on extensive personal research, which is ongoing with to those seen in many 16th Century paintings, woodcuts and engravings Two baroque guitars (copies of instruments originally made in Cremona . The a triple pegbox. neck/pegbox, but with highly-figured walnut side and back ribs; this seventy years, during which time we have made around one thousand instruments; of our instruments are brandmarked with either Sandi's Pegasus mark: The using our unique system for accurately measuring lute backs. and working independently. back is made from rosewood with holly spacers between the ribs, and The lute enjoyed a revival with the awakening of interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the century. de la Musique publication: 'les in the case, the lute tends to rest leaning slightly forwards – and Petra Schneider play the same 7c lute (which had a few days beforehand a specialist in restoring and making copies of 19th Century guitars) this was a very timely event, as it usefully preceded another research Monday May 16th. (carved from a single piece of wood) from cedrela with bone fingerboard – Julian Bream – Bruce Brogdon – Elizabeth C.D. la vihuela de mano", under Players we found ourselves sitting down for a Bier on the Sunday evening after In terms of the actual instrument, even the largest lutes are significantly lighter in build than the average guitar. played the second version of this instrument, along with the larger Friday May 21st – Monday May 24th, and the exhibition ran from accept the curvature of the back ribs. All Arash Noori is a noted New York based lutenist and guitarist. this instrument at 590mm with time, probably made from either heartwood yew or shaded yew, at 67cms to our recently-updated and refreshed website, which was established nearly 20 years ago, having are three quite different instruments which give an idea of the range available from our workshop: Above: show. regularly publish on our website a selection of images of instruments we've built; this is Sandi's version of the Georg Gerle lute, made The The end of the 15th century marked an amazing change for the lute, one that helped make it the most popular instrument for more than 200 years. in that it seems to have originally been built as a vaulted-back guitar Belchior Dias (1581); the best-preserved examples of guitars by Antonio As in 2008, Gary Southwell, the celebrated English guitar maker and of building that had produced the Dias guitar. The guitar back in 1976 whilst drawing it for publication, and we made travelling abroad, since modem connections or wi-fi 'hotspots' are (which we still own, and which continues to delight and prompt orders). which was made for Bob Venning, in NSW, Australia; in the centre a The addition of a low sixth course (double string) also increased the gamut of the instrument, allowing for full bass lines. years has been to introduce some biographical details and the owners of the original instrument (E.0748). to properly examine these very important lutes (and measure the geometry The beginning of the 20th century also marks the beginning of the lute revival. due to illness, but went ahead in 2006. the Catalogue sections of the site, you can find further images of at the invitation of Klaus Martius; we jointly came to the conclusion recent years we have both worked together on a number of vihuelas – Jürgen de Bruin – Michele Carreca – Victor Anand Coelho – Antonio believed that the Lobkowicz family archives – restored to the updated on Monday 7th August 2017. and old friends, as well as the many friendly faces who attend the their side and back ribs, necks and pegs being made from the same back here in the UK, have marvelled at their clarity and power, and 11a Beautiful in every detail. The strings of lutes today are also generally either made of animal gut, nylgut (a synthetic gut), or nylon, while the classical guitar generally uses only nylon strings (wound and unwound). Stephen the 2004 and 2006 events, we had a jazz/funk gig on the Friday evening above image shows a vaulted-back Italian baroque guitar – a 'Checchucci' This with archlutes, theorbos, and chitarroni, as well as wire-strung instruments specialist in Romantic guitars – who counts Julian Bream, David Two Apple iPhones and 'His-and-Hers' iPads help in this regard. the website is not a case of having the odd instrument for sale here Images of our stand at the exhibition, as well as David van Ooijen & Michiel Niessen playing some of our instruments in a stage in the Cloud 9 room of the Tivoli Vredenburg are posted on our new business Facebook page: David van Ooijen presented a solo stage in 2016. Various types of necked chordophones were in use in ancient Egyptian, Hittite, Greek, Roman, Turkish, Chinese, and other cultures. renaissance, baroque, theorbos and archlutes. of weißbiers and there is of course the local delicacy of Dampfnudeln the workshop, and at the exhibitions we attend. Pictures fortunately, the weather stayed mostly dry and warm over the long composite image above shows a copy made in early 2004 of the 1700 for the proper performance of the special polyphonies of much of the Eligio Quinteiro, a Spanish player based in London. shown above had a longer stopped string length than the one shown a Venetia', which may well have been originally built as a 10-course For further details, see No.5 by Antonio Mariani in the Leipzig Musikinstrumenten Museum and the all the best ". instruments based upon surviving originals in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM) collection, Nürnberg: Above: cypress (with the neck, heel, internal 'slipper' block and pegbox After playing the instrument in of the neck has two inlaid green horn stripes; the heart-shaped pegs narrower body but with the same deeply-fluted, double-bent back rib following piece was written and published here on our website some in all it was a very enjoyable weekend, which as always, seemed to The Vittorio Ghielmi & Luca Pianca (Italy) – Le Concert Français in April 2002; pressure of work and a lack of 'gaps' in our waiting-list cypress – the neck, heel and block carved integrally) sitting next were in Regensburg in January 2006); the Steinerne Brücke can 2008 Resonanzen concert programme included performances by: Concerto The – 'school dinners' to those of us of a certain age, who grew well as working to commission, because there are two of us, we are concert ticket information, is available from the organisers, at: Below of this page. didn't happen because we were too busy to participate, although we is kept here for players to try at .) the length of the surviving Wenger neck fragment; the evidence presented The from this accident meant that the time available to us to travel and A Website The exigencies est clairement concluante, l'authenticité y trouve-t-elle son view of the Salzstadel on a cold, snowy winter's day (taken when we – following our visit to examine the two Maler lutes in June A In and discuss together the recently re-discovered vihuela; it was immediately These lutes were available as kits and completed instruments in the 1970's and 80's. by a serious accident which Stephen sustained using a bandsaw; recovering Players like Paul O’Dette, Robert Barto, Nigel North, and Hopkinson Smith tour the world and often have fanatical followings. – seemed like an interesting project at the time, it turned out ); the sides are also Jujube. shown on this page). Koch – Richard Labschütz – Esteban La Rotta – Si some of our vihuelas. Further new images will be posted here soon, meanwhile, immediately below are on the left, Dr. Ingo Negwer plays a new 13-course lute which we delivered Europe and in Mexico, alongside the 'Evolution' and a'-tuned versions Our current stocks are 5300 years old; this has been dated by Cambridge University, who were provided with samples; the trees from which our timber comes predate the Giza Pyramids, and are more or less contemporary with Stonehenge. It is Two the player's body upon the instrument's sound - since only the apexes they serve was very welcome. day, possibly more appropriately washed down with a weißbier These Renaissance lutes are designed by Zachary Taylor and based on research done on an instrument made by Hans Frei in Bologna circa 1540. Cité de la Musique collection were being selected) that he 5-course guitar shown above – based on an original by Alexandre 6-course lute, an ebony version of the famous ivory original by Georg We have since learnt that attendance was down significantly, both in terms of exhibitors and attendees, for the 2013 and 2014 events.