Official Luthiers Forum!

I have no compunction in calling myself a "luthier" as I make stringed instruments but knew that someday I'd have to step up to the mark and make a lute - well now I have. I'm happy and fortunate to have as a mentor, guitar building sounding board and friend Colin Symonds, a maker of great talent who is involved in his spare time in repairing old stringed instruments for the Royal College of Music. He repaired a Heiber 8 course lute and got permission from the owner to draw up a set of plans and make a copy of the instrument. He very generously made me a copy of the plans , provided me with a 90 year old European spruce top and made the fabulous boxwood pegs. On top of that Obi Wan Symonds mentored me through the project patiently answering all of my questions and providing detailed instructions for each of the many and varied processes involved. He also soundly put me back in my box when I mused about making the top arched I owe him a huge debt of thanks.

This was scary stuff for me as I've never built from anyone else's plans and these plans are VERY detailed. Also it took me totally outside my comfort zone in terms of how a lute works compared to a guitar, but I learned a lot of interesting things and feel I now have a better understanding of where some modern techniques came from. Some of the techniques such as making the bowl and carving the Rose were . . . interesting.

The lute is called Eggbert as basically that’s what the bowl is – draw a line down the middle of the top (half-egg shape) and rotate this though 180 degrees, this gives me the surface of the bowl back. Eggbert is an eight course lute with 595mm scale length. The bowl is made of thirteen African walnut staves separated by bwb purfling together with an African walnut end cap, the neck and pegbox are also African walnut and the pegbox has an ebony end cap. The fretboard is plumb, the nut is Old Rio Rosewood and the bridge is English walnut capped with plumb. The neck has eight gut frets and four wooden (plumb) ones glued onto the top. The bowl was pore filled with egg white and finished with Tru-oil (along with the neck and pegbox). The top was sized with egg white, had a shellac wash coat and then a few coats of Tru-oil.

Tuning from low to high is Dd Ff Gg Cc (Octave pairs) ff aa dd g'. Think of it as a normal six string guitar in standard tuning with the third string down a semitone to F#. Now put two more strings on the bottom - D and Bb. Put octave strings on the bottom four courses and double up the next three courses as unisons. Finally put a capo on the third fret - that's now in eight course lute tuning. The strings are Pyramid (German made) that Colin got for me with the following gauges (mm):

Fundamental/Octave
1st 0.450
2nd 0.550
3rd 0.675
4th 0.52w
5th 0.66w/ 0.600
6th 0.80w/ 0.675
7th 0.90w/ 0.750
8th 1.02w/ 0.800

I documented Eggbert’s build here on The Luthier Community forum. Getting used to pegs with 1:1 gearing is "interesting" and keeping newish strings in tune even more so - especially as most are in pairs. But I stumbled my way through something and did a recording. My playing is awful having to fumble around finding the right strings - there are a lot, but here it is anyway. It's Track 40 on the Jukebox here on the Sounds page of my website. First I play all the eight strings for the tuning and then go into noodling which I'm calling for now "If it ain't baroque, don't fix it"

Some pictures:








Thanks for looking and listening.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Nicely done! Those backs are evil looking...I think you are braver than I.

Wow - The bowl back, peghead and soundhole sure impress me. What's plumb wood?

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That's a beautiful piece of artwork there Mr. Luthier.

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Beautiful work, Dave, and I really enjoyed watching the build on Lurhiercom.org. Quite an education. Thanks for posting it here too.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Bravo, Dave and also "chapeau" to your mentor. Lovely work indeed.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Congrats, Dave! What is the Latin name for African walnut?

Plumb wood would of course be vertical grained.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Wow!! Lovely instrument! This is something I don't think I would ever attempt. I am not at all surprised that you would not only make a lute, but that it would be a thing of such great beauty! I salute your talent and your fearless approach to lutherie! Dave, your instruments are always an inspiration. I can't wait to see what's next.

Also... Props to Colin for the beautiful pegs and for continuing to share his knowledge.

long

_________________
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” -Heraclitus of Ephesus

Dave,

I never doubted that you were a luthier in the true sense of the word, but now no one could argue the point. A fine-looking instrument! My hat's off to you.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Dave, what a fine accomplishment, beautiful work. Carving out the rosette must have taken a lot of time and patience, it's remarkable and sounds great.

Quite a few strings there, did it take a while to get it tuned the first time?

A fine effort indeed!
Thanks for sharing!

Very nice Dave.. now you know why I only call myself a guitarmaker !!!!

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Great to see it all finished Dave, it's been interesting watching this come together.

Building a lute is no small undertaking, even for an experienced guitar maker, but I have to say you have generally been a good student, just occassionally needing to have your radical modernist tendencies reined it, However I put this down to your boyish enthusiasm. You should be proud of your achievement.

Making the pegs for this lute was the first job I did back in my workshop after my accident, I'm grateful to you for helping me decide to carry on making instruments.

So, now there's two luthiers on the Luthiers' forum.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Indeed, that's true. There is also one in the making Down Under. Martin is building one at ANZLF. He's been known to post here from time to time.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

WOW, what a beautiful instrument! How do you carve a rosette like that??? I'm stunned...

Great job! Now, how is it sitting on the porch picking out your tunes?

_________________
Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

A1 Dave, congratulations, nicely done.

Only thing now is, I guess you gonna have to live with the fact that your a luthier....
but that should be no problem for you.

as always,
blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Congratulations Dave! You did good !
I enjoyed watching this come together too.

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Cool Dave, another step up in difficulty I imagine. You could be a cooper-luthier.

_________________
A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

That's really lovely, Dave!! Congratulations on the fine work. BTW, I listened to your CD again today. I enjoy your work and your playing. (and thanks for getting Colin involved)

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Matteo, Bill, Waddy, Steve C, Bob, Pat, Robbie, Tony, the Padma, Dave, Ricardo and Ron - Thank you.

Steve - Thanks. plumb is plum wood that hangs vertically when you tie it on the end of a piece of string

Howard - Thanks. You can never be sure but I think the African walnut I have is Lovoa spp., which is interesting as it's actuall a member of the mahogany family. Hobbit house has some info here. It's a lovely wood to work with and takes a finish very well.

Marc - thanks. It's not just the first time - keeping it tuned anytime is "interesting".

Sondre - Thanks. You make the Rose very slowly and very carefully. The techniques are simple but it requires a lot of care an patience.

Douglas - Thanks. Porch picking where beer belly meets bowl back requires a certain "technique" but it's fun.

Colin - What can I say, you were a gentleman and a star and you should tease us all here more often with the fabulous instruments you are still making.

There is a lot of mythology about these instruments but with the right mindset and help, most people here on the OLF have the skill to make one and like making a guitar it is a series of logical steps. I hope a few more people will pluck up the courage and make a lute and we can see a Renaissance in lute making (pun intended ).

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Congrats Dave, that is a beautiful piece of workmanship and a wonderful sounding instrument.

Congrats also on the fabulous rose, I know the slight trepidation you felt before undertaking that particular task!

Inspiring

Mat

hi Dave
lovely work indeed, well done.
I know you like things “celtic”
have you tried anything from
the Rowallan Lute Book like Rob MacKillop here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToixOhQk ... re=related
yours Geordie

Not so fast, Mr. Luthier.
Don't see any abalone on that thing, and there's not a pickguard anywhere.

(Not even a tailpiece, sheesh....)

But alright, if you want us to call you that, then so be it.
Just tell us where you hid the strapjack and we'll quit bellyachin'.

JJ

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com