Hello my dear Clive Titmuss. My name is Delcides Kurscheidt. I've been following your channel and admire a lot your work. I am a retired french teacher and I decided to study lutherie, which I study at the University, here in Brazil,. I'm specializing in building electric guitars and basses, but I ended up buying a German 6-string lute in bad shape and would like to restore it myself. Maybe even learn to build lutes and theorbos. For now, I'm watching videos, looking for molds and measurements, getting to know the best woods to build with, especially the woods I find in my country. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. A big hug from Brazil.
Hi Delcides, thank you for the kind words. One of my baroque lutes, built in 2011, belongs to a collector in Brasilia. He also owns Torrés guitars. Brazilian rosewood is one of the best possible rosewoods for lute construction. I envy you the choice! I recommend Canadian woods for soundboards; Englemann is nice. Thanks for watching!
Olá Delcides. Você conseguiu restaurar o alaúde? Eu estou muito interessado em construir alaúdes, principalmente o barroco de 13 ordens, porém não tenho nenhuma experiência com lutheria, não faço ideia por onde começar rsrs, por enquanto estou apenas vendo vídeos e pesquisando sobre. Onde você estuda lutheria? Abraço!
Hi Dan, thanks for your question. I don't have any lute plans for sale, but the Guild of American Luthiers has them. You could also try the Lute Society of America and the instrument museum in Nuremburg. Good luck with your project!
Thanks for this, very interesting and informative! I see how you transfer the shape from the drawings to make the spine and soundboard outline, but how do you get the right (and symmetrical) curve on either side of the back between those two faces - is it something you can just get right carving by eye or is there a more sophisticated way of doing it?
Divide the circumference of the mould, taken at several points along its length (the spine of the mould) equally, making the outer ribs slightly larger to allow for scooping and correction of the action during assembly. Then you connect the points ( I use five or six, with more at the ends) with a line, forming the outline of the rib, from the neck block (marked equally) to the endclasp or capping strip area at the bottom of the mould (meet at a point or spread, depending on period of the lute). Then connect these points to make the rib profiles with a tape that looks nominally straight to the eye. The more flattened the lute, the more curvature for each rib. Multi-rib lutes make the coverage easier than fewer ribs, but more work fitting and marking. I mark the round finished mould with a dark pencil, scoop and file, then mark with ink, then varnish finish and wax heavily. c
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 Hi Clive, thanks very much for the helpful, detailed response. I think it's the flattened back that is confusing me. I can imagine dividing the circumference equally at different points along its length if it were a semi-circle, but the flattened shape seems like it would make each cross section along its length quite unique. Do you work out those circumference measurements on paper first or do you just carve the overall shape by hand/eye following the outline of the base and spine and then measure and mark the circumference divisions with the fabric tape measure afterwards?
@@jamesluff8415 Yes, you carve the overall shape following the base and spine, but a drawing, a good one, has bulkheads that have have been measured from the original. (Guild of American Luthiers Lundberg plans have these, as do others). Supposedly you are modelling your lute on a historical one, and these have all sorts of deviations from the semicircle, in fact it never appears. All lutes are shaped as an aesthetic concept, often have slight bulges over the clasp, humps over the neck block (adds material, makes division easier) as well as flattening. The more extreme shapes are normally more ribs, up to 33, while simpler, early shapes are 9 or 11 ribs. 18th C. German lutes later revived the early shapes and fewer ribs. Somehow it all works out. Neapolitan mandolins have very wide side ribs, but much smaller main back ribs, with the transition in between. You must rationalize each rib, they are unique, and they must lie flat on the mould. See video for the importance of that idea as you fit. Your rib blanks must also be the correct width, as banana and s-shaped ribs make the needed strip wider. Beyond that, any shape is theoretically possible, given enough subdivision. Some woods work better than others, and looking through instrument inventories in lute collections (Bologna, Nuremburg, Munich, Paris, London) point to the best woods: yew, rosewood, maple. Best bending, best planing, best non-splitting, best sound. c
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 Thanks, I appreciate all the detail. As you can probably tell, I'm new to lute making and it seems to me to be a curious (and delightful) mix of great precision and hand-carving in a way that is quite different from the precision of engineering. I'm currently working through one of David van Edwards' courses but have already been eyeing up Stephen Gottlieb's plans for a theorbo after Buechenberg. I've just unfurled the plans again and how to go about making the mold is now a great deal clearer to me - so thanks for that! Incidentally, I'm having a very hard time finding any yew ribs without lots of imperfections. Those unscrupulous lute makers of old really cleared Europe out of all the good trees! ;)
Yes, yew is precious and storied wood; the Celts believed it protected the spirits of the dead and every old church in the UK has its ancient yew. The enzyme taxamine, which is contained in the cambium and roots, was used as a poison for centuries, then found a new use in the breast cancer drug Taxol, from Bristol-Myers, who barked and cut yew in the national forests of the Olympic penisula. A friend heard about it, collected some, and sold it to a few makers. Pacific yew is lighter and more fissile than European, but large trees can still be found on Vancouer Island. I got some from a lumber yard in Sydney BC (Westwind) which sells to boaters. I've made many fine instruments with it, but had only a bit for a shaded yew bowl. I combine with rosewood (alternating ribs, both baroque guitars and lutes) to achieve a fine, reedy yet sustaining sound in baroque lutes. c PS best of luck with the lute. Pear wood is a good substitute, or elder if you can find a tree. Claro or Black Walnut, or Olive spp. might be nice in place of rosewood, all easily available in the US. Lots of makers in Germany in the 20th C. used cherry and maple, alternating, very fine grained wood if possible.@@jamesluff8415
Yes, instrument names are confusing. What is a dobro? Just a guitar from the Louisiana bayous, with a diaphragm instead of a soundboard. The lute is similar, but we use it as a generic description, similar to the use of the word "keyboard", for any round backed, fretted instrument from certain traditions in Asia, Europe, the Arab world, Central Africa and the Indian subcontinent. But the setar in Persia, the sitar in India, the oud in norther Africa, the mandolin in Naples, the pandora or mandora of German speaking countries in the later 18th C. and many others--they are all lutes. The origin of the English word lute (luth, laute, alud etc. in other languages) is a good example of generic description. Sometime in the very distant past, the Neolithic period, instruments were made from animal parts or weapons. The lute is thought to have evolved from instruments using turtle shells and later gourds, and Greek and Roman mythology supports this origin story. Possibly bows and arrows were used as instruments, so a resonator was attached to the bow, originally it had stored arrow heads or bow strings. Lutes and guitars were both depicted in friezes (relief wall sculpture in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, etc.) at least 6000 years ago. Eventually the shell and skin, with intestines for strings, was replaced by wooden construction, and this where the word comes from: “lute” is our version of the Arabic “al oud” or “made from wood”. This change could have taken place as recently as two thousand years ago, around the time of the Prophet Mohammed or the period of ascent of other Abrahamic religions, early Christians or the Hindu religious history of the Indus valley. In any case this term persisted through European contact with the Arab world during the Crusades. The Moors, who dominated in Spain, favoured the guitar (gittern, cistern, cetra, the greek word is “kithara”. So lute and oud are actually the same word in different languages. The lute did not really die out in Europe in the 18th C.-it continued in Eastern Europe and was revived as an art instrument sometime in the later 19th C. because of the huge printed repertoire, and it is played in various forms in every country on earth at the moment. There is also a question of aural or written traditions, but this would make my explanation very long. Thanks for your question, Clive
This is wonderful How dose one go about learning to be a Luther? I am reading a lot and I am starting to build cigar box guitars. When I was five years old I had three goals: Build a ship. Sail to Tahiti. And learn to play the lute. I did not know about the theorbo back then. I feel I am too old to build an 80 foot sailboat. Tahiti is no longer what I had heard about as a kid. But I can still learn to play. The only way I can afford to get a theorbo is to learn to build one. I have my contrabass canjo as my first experimental musical instrument. I bought a used Bass amp from the junk store. My canjo sounds great on it. I have tuned to low A. Right now I am waiting for paint to dry, so that I can put a preamp into a wooden box. I have bought a violin kit to build a cigar box violin. Bas Baa Black sheep sound better everyday, on my canjo and I am working on learning to read music. Some of my dreams are old, old but I am happy to say I have found a place in my life where I can start reaching out and doing something about them.
Hi Majid, that's easy! Make them fit perfectly, then add glue with a small brush. Clamp and pull them together using masking tape, electrical tape, or paper/cloth strips with hide glue and heated iron, pulling on each rib starting in the centre, working to the ends, where you use tacks to bend the wood slightly. Make the ribs thinner at the ends to make it easy. A good lute maker checks the fit of each rib very carefully before glue. Make sure the ribs are conforming and fit the mould well, as well as fitting the next rib perfectly. Both must fit to get a good bowl that covers the mould exactly. Good luck!
Hi there, thanks for your question. I glue the sections together with yellow carpenter's glue. The measurements are derived from the front outline and side profiles of the lute. Some lutes are flattened, like the one in this video, and some have a more semi-circular shape. For more ideas on lutherie please have a look at some of our other videos.
Hi Matthew, I only make instruments I can play :) But yes, there were hurdy gurdies with lute rib bodies in the 18th century, and it wouldn't surprise me to find that at least some of them had been converted from lutes. Several Tielke guitars met this fate. Thanks for watching!
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 There is only a handful of makers in the U.S. The prices of are ridiculous to me. I would think if one could play the guitar, and dabble on the keyboard one could play, Just a thought. Thanks.
Hello my dear Clive Titmuss. My name is Delcides Kurscheidt. I've been following your channel and admire a lot your work. I am a retired french teacher and I decided to study lutherie, which I study at the University, here in Brazil,. I'm specializing in building electric guitars and basses, but I ended up buying a German 6-string lute in bad shape and would like to restore it myself. Maybe even learn to build lutes and theorbos. For now, I'm watching videos, looking for molds and measurements, getting to know the best woods to build with, especially the woods I find in my country. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. A big hug from Brazil.
Hi Delcides, thank you for the kind words. One of my baroque lutes, built in 2011, belongs to a collector in Brasilia. He also owns Torrés guitars. Brazilian rosewood is one of the best possible rosewoods for lute construction. I envy you the choice! I recommend Canadian woods for soundboards; Englemann is nice. Thanks for watching!
Olá Delcides. Você conseguiu restaurar o alaúde? Eu estou muito interessado em construir alaúdes, principalmente o barroco de 13 ordens, porém não tenho nenhuma experiência com lutheria, não faço ideia por onde começar rsrs, por enquanto estou apenas vendo vídeos e pesquisando sobre. Onde você estuda lutheria? Abraço!
Thank you sir, I enjoy your videos
Thanks, Reinaldo, I'm glad you like them.
Is it possible to purchase a set of plans from you? Thanks Dan
Hi Dan, thanks for your question. I don't have any lute plans for sale, but the Guild of American Luthiers has them. You could also try the Lute Society of America and the instrument museum in Nuremburg. Good luck with your project!
What you said at 8:38 ... Très joli.
Thanks very much! Merci!
Thanks for this, very interesting and informative! I see how you transfer the shape from the drawings to make the spine and soundboard outline, but how do you get the right (and symmetrical) curve on either side of the back between those two faces - is it something you can just get right carving by eye or is there a more sophisticated way of doing it?
Divide the circumference of the mould, taken at several points along its length (the spine of the mould) equally, making the outer ribs slightly larger to allow for scooping and correction of the action during assembly. Then you connect the points ( I use five or six, with more at the ends) with a line, forming the outline of the rib, from the neck block (marked equally) to the endclasp or capping strip area at the bottom of the mould (meet at a point or spread, depending on period of the lute). Then connect these points to make the rib profiles with a tape that looks nominally straight to the eye. The more flattened the lute, the more curvature for each rib. Multi-rib lutes make the coverage easier than fewer ribs, but more work fitting and marking. I mark the round finished mould with a dark pencil, scoop and file, then mark with ink, then varnish finish and wax heavily.
c
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 Hi Clive, thanks very much for the helpful, detailed response. I think it's the flattened back that is confusing me. I can imagine dividing the circumference equally at different points along its length if it were a semi-circle, but the flattened shape seems like it would make each cross section along its length quite unique. Do you work out those circumference measurements on paper first or do you just carve the overall shape by hand/eye following the outline of the base and spine and then measure and mark the circumference divisions with the fabric tape measure afterwards?
@@jamesluff8415 Yes, you carve the overall shape following the base and spine, but a drawing, a good one, has bulkheads that have have been measured from the original. (Guild of American Luthiers Lundberg plans have these, as do others). Supposedly you are modelling your lute on a historical one, and these have all sorts of deviations from the semicircle, in fact it never appears. All lutes are shaped as an aesthetic concept, often have slight bulges over the clasp, humps over the neck block (adds material, makes division easier) as well as flattening. The more extreme shapes are normally more ribs, up to 33, while simpler, early shapes are 9 or 11 ribs. 18th C. German lutes later revived the early shapes and fewer ribs.
Somehow it all works out. Neapolitan mandolins have very wide side ribs, but much smaller main back ribs, with the transition in between.
You must rationalize each rib, they are unique, and they must lie flat on the mould. See video for the importance of that idea as you fit. Your rib blanks must also be the correct width, as banana and s-shaped ribs make the needed strip wider.
Beyond that, any shape is theoretically possible, given enough subdivision. Some woods work better than others, and looking through instrument inventories in lute collections (Bologna, Nuremburg, Munich, Paris, London) point to the best woods: yew, rosewood, maple. Best bending, best planing, best non-splitting, best sound.
c
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 Thanks, I appreciate all the detail. As you can probably tell, I'm new to lute making and it seems to me to be a curious (and delightful) mix of great precision and hand-carving in a way that is quite different from the precision of engineering.
I'm currently working through one of David van Edwards' courses but have already been eyeing up Stephen Gottlieb's plans for a theorbo after Buechenberg. I've just unfurled the plans again and how to go about making the mold is now a great deal clearer to me - so thanks for that!
Incidentally, I'm having a very hard time finding any yew ribs without lots of imperfections. Those unscrupulous lute makers of old really cleared Europe out of all the good trees! ;)
Yes, yew is precious and storied wood; the Celts believed it protected the spirits of the dead and every old church in the UK has its ancient yew. The enzyme taxamine, which is contained in the cambium and roots, was used as a poison for centuries, then found a new use in the breast cancer drug Taxol, from Bristol-Myers, who barked and cut yew in the national forests of the Olympic penisula. A friend heard about it, collected some, and sold it to a few makers. Pacific yew is lighter and more fissile than European, but large trees can still be found on Vancouer Island. I got some from a lumber yard in Sydney BC (Westwind) which sells to boaters. I've made many fine instruments with it, but had only a bit for a shaded yew bowl. I combine with rosewood (alternating ribs, both baroque guitars and lutes) to achieve a fine, reedy yet sustaining sound in baroque lutes. c PS best of luck with the lute. Pear wood is a good substitute, or elder if you can find a tree. Claro or Black Walnut, or Olive spp. might be nice in place of rosewood, all easily available in the US. Lots of makers in Germany in the 20th C. used cherry and maple, alternating, very fine grained wood if possible.@@jamesluff8415
I am assuming that lute and oud are not the same, but they look very similar, right?
Yes, instrument names are confusing. What is a dobro? Just a guitar from the Louisiana bayous, with a diaphragm instead of a soundboard. The lute is similar, but we use it as a generic description, similar to the use of the word "keyboard", for any round backed, fretted instrument from certain traditions in Asia, Europe, the Arab world, Central Africa and the Indian subcontinent. But the setar in Persia, the sitar in India, the oud in norther Africa, the mandolin in Naples, the pandora or mandora of German speaking countries in the later 18th C. and many others--they are all lutes.
The origin of the English word lute (luth, laute, alud etc. in other languages) is a good example of generic description. Sometime in the very distant past, the Neolithic period, instruments were made from animal parts or weapons. The lute is thought to have evolved from instruments using turtle shells and later gourds, and Greek and Roman mythology supports this origin story. Possibly bows and arrows were used as instruments, so a resonator was attached to the bow, originally it had stored arrow heads or bow strings.
Lutes and guitars were both depicted in friezes (relief wall sculpture in Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, etc.) at least 6000 years ago. Eventually the shell and skin, with intestines for strings, was replaced by wooden construction, and this where the word comes from: “lute” is our version of the Arabic “al oud” or “made from wood”. This change could have taken place as recently as two thousand years ago, around the time of the Prophet Mohammed or the period of ascent of other Abrahamic religions, early Christians or the Hindu religious history of the Indus valley.
In any case this term persisted through European contact with the Arab world during the Crusades. The Moors, who dominated in Spain, favoured the guitar (gittern, cistern, cetra, the greek word is “kithara”. So lute and oud are actually the same word in different languages.
The lute did not really die out in Europe in the 18th C.-it continued in Eastern Europe and was revived as an art instrument sometime in the later 19th C. because of the huge printed repertoire, and it is played in various forms in every country on earth at the moment. There is also a question of aural or written traditions, but this would make my explanation very long. Thanks for your question, Clive
This is wonderful
How dose one go about learning to be a Luther? I am reading a lot and I am starting to build cigar box guitars.
When I was five years old I had three goals:
Build a ship.
Sail to Tahiti.
And learn to play the lute.
I did not know about the theorbo back then.
I feel I am too old to build an 80 foot sailboat. Tahiti is no longer what I had heard about as a kid. But I can still learn to play.
The only way I can afford to get a theorbo is to learn to build one.
I have my contrabass canjo as my first experimental musical instrument. I bought a used Bass amp from the junk store. My canjo sounds great on it. I have tuned to low A. Right now I am waiting for paint to dry, so that I can put a preamp into a wooden box.
I have bought a violin kit to build a cigar box violin.
Bas Baa Black sheep sound better everyday, on my canjo and I am working on learning to read music.
Some of my dreams are old, old but I am happy to say I have found a place in my life where I can start reaching out and doing something about them.
Excellent comment with many fascinating aspects--Thank you, Clive
I wish to see how to glue the ribs they are really thin I make oat OD it’s a little thicker than this ribs thank you
Hi Majid, that's easy! Make them fit perfectly, then add glue with a small brush. Clamp and pull them together using masking tape, electrical tape, or paper/cloth strips with hide glue and heated iron, pulling on each rib starting in the centre, working to the ends, where you use tacks to bend the wood slightly. Make the ribs thinner at the ends to make it easy. A good lute maker checks the fit of each rib very carefully before glue. Make sure the ribs are conforming and fit the mould well, as well as fitting the next rib perfectly. Both must fit to get a good bowl that covers the mould exactly. Good luck!
How did you actually make the mould? can you share method and measurements please?
Hi there, thanks for your question. I glue the sections together with yellow carpenter's glue. The measurements are derived from the front outline and side profiles of the lute. Some lutes are flattened, like the one in this video, and some have a more semi-circular shape. For more ideas on lutherie please have a look at some of our other videos.
Have you ever thought about making a hurdy gurdy with this type of design?
Hi Matthew, I only make instruments I can play :) But yes, there were hurdy gurdies with lute rib bodies in the 18th century, and it wouldn't surprise me to find that at least some of them had been converted from lutes. Several Tielke guitars met this fate. Thanks for watching!
@@EarlyMusicStudio1 There is only a handful of makers in the U.S. The prices of are ridiculous to me. I would think if one could play the guitar, and dabble on the keyboard one could play, Just a thought. Thanks.
Oud I meant