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It's even worse with European yew! My most successful source of Pacific yew so far is wood for bow staves, from Ravenbeak Natureworks in Canada - www.ravenbeak.com.

@@luteshop Thank you Sincerly appreciated

When you first get a lute it takes a while to get used to friction pegs. The pegs have to be pushed in tight enough that they hold, but not so tight that they're difficult to turn. When you turn a peg to tune, you may have to push it in a bit at the same time. The really important thing, though, is to have pegs which fit really well (tighter at the thick end) and which are really well bedded in with peg paste.

@@luteshop I actually fixed it you gotta push In the pegs as you tighten and now it holds its tune :)

It's a vihuela de mano in Spanish and a viola da mano in Italian. This one is based on an Italian engraving.

The ribs are bent dry - not difficult as they're only about 1.5mm thick. I do use water for thicker pieces of wood like the inner liner at the bottom of the lute (made from spruce) and the thin strips of ebony for the soundboard edging.

For a 6-course lute, the note names are (highest pitched string first) g' d' a f c G. Any extra bass courses are tuned to a diatonic scale going down from the bottom G. Two important things to note - the actual pitch can be just about anything, depending on the size of the lute; and from about 1630 onwards different tunings started to be used, ultimately settling on what we call "D minor tuning" (for an 11-course lute f' d' a f d A G F E D C).

@@luteshop Cheers, thanks for that! {:o:O:}

Some people do, but they are expensive and heavy, and don't necessarily solve the main problem which is the nut - if the strings are sticking on the nut, geared pegs will not help you.

String length 67.3cm, tuned in E (though this size can be tuned in F as well).

The oud is alive and well! And like the Western European lute, very different from its ancestors. It's interesting to ask what happened to the lute in the period from the beginning of its divergence from the oud in medieval times through to the end of the 15th century when the first written music for it appeared. I didn't discuss the (ancient) origins of the European lute in this video because it's a huge and controversial topic.

You could make a vihuela with a flat back. Probably the most important factor is the double strings. These instruments are very light (a six-course lute or vihuela typically weighs less then 600g) and the string tensions are very low (about 25N per string), and these factors are important for the sound too.

@@luteshop Yes, thank you.

Hello and sorry for interfering in the conversation! I am a lutenist/theorbist and have also made several of my own instruments. I think that the pegbox with a severe angle, even if emblematic of the lute, has no influence on the sound; moreover, archlutes and theorbos have a first pegbox without angle. The best explanation I found is that it reduces the effort to turn the pegs (effect of a pulley) therefore increasing precision, the lute being often played by women who accompanied themselves when singing. Has the round back with the ribs any influence on sound? I don't know, but what is sure to restore the sound of the lute is the shape of the soundboard, and especially what you don't see: the bracing (hope Google give me ad hoc translation : barrage en français). Between Italian lutes, French lutes, and German lutes, from 16th to 17th century, Between 7 or 8 courses (Dowland), 10/11 c. (Ballard), 13 c. baroque tuning (Weiss, Bach), and 14/15 c. archlutes and Theorbo (Kapsberger, Piccinini)... the position of the bars changes dramatically ; and even today, luthiers are still seeking to improve the brilliance of the chanterelle, the softness of the midrange or the depth of the bass by adjusting the bracing and eventually consider the result as their "secret de fabrique" !! Hope it helps ;-)

Fast runs are usually played with alternating thumb and index finger. In the 16th century, this was the preferred technique for most runs (thumb-inside). After 1600, with thumb-outside, slower runs were usually played middle-index, fast runs thumb-index.

@@luteshop Clear answer, thank you (:

As I said in the video, you can certainly play standing, and a strap will be necessary. Standing is good for relaxation and balance, and I find it increasingly attractive. The only downside is slightly less stability, but putting your cloth/leather/whatever you use between the back of the lute and your chest will help. The other considerations remain the same - for thumb-inside, you need the lute quite high so your arm can come around the end without bending the wrist; and for thumb-outside the body of the lute will need to be lower so the arm can approach from above, again without bending the wrist.

This version of Robin comes from the Folger lute book - you can get the facsimile from the Lute Society: www.lutesociety.org/pages/catalogue#head2

Thank you so much

Aquila have a formula for frets which is different from the one they use for strings, and many people seem to be happy with them. I have no experience with them, but if they work for you I see nothing to worry about. One downside I can predict is if you use double frets they won't wear in the same (useful) way as gut, where the strand on the nut side gets crushed more and then doesn't buzz.

@@luteshop Thanks for this info. Double frets sounds interesting.

It's based on the lute by Georg Gerle, which is 59.7cm. This one is 60cm, made in 1985 and used for my CD "Fantasia" - www.luteshop.co.uk/fantasia

There's a lot of evidence suggesting that unlike keyboards, lutes and viols were tuned in equal temperament, but there is other evidence about moving frets to get better tuning, and of course players would always have relied on their ears rather than any external reference. I love 1/4 comma on keyboards, but on the lute those very narrow fifths are less pleasant, hence the compromise of 1/6 comma.

@@luteshop, without a doubt, equal temperament became common sooner on fretted strings than on keyboards. Woodwinds somewhat ahead of keyboards too. A lot of people don’t realize that various well-temperament schemes remained pretty common on keyboards until the late-1800s. I’m not certain, but I suspect that Paul O’dette might tune his Renaissance Lute to something somewhat like QC Meantone; perhaps you know. A few months ago, I picked up a Lumatone keyboard (ruclips.net/video/cpYBnzaWZqU/видео.html) and have been mostly working with 31-tone-per-octave equal-temperament (“31TET”) on it. For any of you who aren’t familiar with it, 31TET is audibly identical with Quarter-Comma Meantone, which was very common in the Renaissance, but it avoids the modulation limitations. I can see why: it sounds really intriguing! I also picked up Pianoteq’s classical-guitar sound for it, which I find makes the 31TET/QC-Meantone 5-cent-flat perfect fifths sound less … clangy … than on piano. It still sounds 5 cents flat, but more intentionally so, whereas on piano, it sounds more like a mistake!

This one is made from rosewood (Dalbergia spp.) and holly. Most of my lutes are made from maple or yew.

@@luteshop Thank you so much for your reply. Its been my goal for a few years now to make my own lute. I bought David Van Edwards course and collected most of my tools. Hope to start building soon. Can't decide what wood to use. I really like this though. Also, there is so little on the internet and fewer yet videos on lute building. I like you style of videos, the content, presentation and editing are all perfect. What you have shared has been most helpful. Please don't stop making videos on the subject.

Hi Peter, you just make your own fret ruler - if you email me (address on my website) I can just send you a copy of an article which explains how to calculate the fret distances. I should add it to the list of articles on the site, where you can also find a short discussion of the issues: luteshop.co.uk/articles/tuning-temperament/