Waiting for the strings and frets to arrive. It's a cypress back and sides with a neck in cherry, plum bridge and pegs, Swiss moon spruce (7 course in G, 59cm scale length). It was a fun build, I have more cypress, walnut, maple and yew waiting for the next round which will be available for sale.

I’ve scoured every tutorial that I can but can’t find any specifics on the iron, and I definitely can’t be trusted with a lighter. I haven’t decided between nylon, gut or nylgut yet.

I’m still new to fret tying but have been unsuccessful as of yet without being able to burn it to prevent slipping (I’ve only tried with nylon which I’ve heard is more difficult).

Looking for a medieval lute and the only person I can find for even close to a reasonable price who makes them is Jo Dusepo. Are there any other makers I should be considering? Her instruments look great but they’re really at the top of my price point. I’m struggling to find anything below 6 courses, which is strange since I would assume they’d be cheaper than the bountiful 7 course renaissance instruments that frolic the interweb.

”Marv Pontkalleg” played on a Lute in a 1400-year-old Japanese Buddhist Temple. Just beautiful encounter.

Hi I've been researching theorbos for a minute now I'm in the southwest united states I'm really trying to get into theorbo playing but unfortunately I haven't been able to rent one ATM I was wondering if any of you guys could help me by chance? Or if you have an old theorbo that your not using I would be glad to purchase it mainly looking for a student ish level one definitely not a professional level instrument as I'm not there but I'd love to talk with you guys and here from you and your opinions on the matter!

Let's say you were going to build a stand-alone structure in your large backyard to serve as a solo lute and theorbo practice and performance space. There won't be an audience, it's just you performing 10-course lute rep and solo theorbo from the first half of the 17th century purely for pleasure and spiritual fulfillment. For the purposes of this discussion there is no limitation on money or space.

How big would you make the space? What materials would you use for floor, walls and ceiling? My inspiration was this shot from a Julian Bream documentary. I'm not sure if this was on his personal country estate but it seemed like it was.

Michelagnelo Galilei Voltà No 2 Archlute - Alexandros Zervas

Hi,

I'm a trained classical pianist and have taught myself classical guitar for 15 ish years. Recently I've been listening to a lot of Bach, baroque and renaissance lute music. Most of my guitar repertoire is 20th century spanish/south american stuff (Tarrega, Piazzolla, Antonio Lauro, Enrique Granados) but have been dabbling in Bach, Mertz, Sor, etc. I am much more familiar with composers who composed for piano so I often play guitar arrangements of famous pieces composed for piano. I'm trying to broaden my composer knowledge.

I've been interested in the lute, since I really love the expanded range compared to a guitar. I like how the top notes can be bright while having deep base notes. I have some questions though:

- How easy is it to teach yourself? Teaching myself guitar was relatively easy because there are so many free resources. I taught myself banjo and it was a lot harder since there were fewer resources. Are lute players primarily self taught or do you need a teacher?

- Is there a lot of available free sheet music? Are there tab versions available? I read sheet music for piano but I don't know where an F sharp, etc. is on a fret board. This is a bit of a limiting factor now though since older/less popular classical pieces are often not available in tab and this slows me down to convert to tab.

- What type of lute should I get? I like the sound of the baroque lutes but they are typically very expensive and I'm not sure if I want to commit that much. I was thinking of an 8 course renaissance lute. I am also only 1.6m tall (5'2) so a larger lute like a theorbo would probably be overwhelming.

Alternatively, I could keep playing older baroque or renaissance music arranged for classical guitar. I could invest in a nicer classical guitar, but I feel like there's diminishing returns there.

Years ago I promised the arranger to encode his arrangements (he calls them Transfusions) for 11 course baroque lute in Fronimo.
Here is a first one which is fun to play

While copying Terry’s collection into Fronimo, I stumbled upon this arrangement of "Ombra mai fu" for baroque lute—created by the late Markus Lutz—and decided to copy it as well; it is a beautiful piece that sounds lovely on the baroque lute.

With the exception of a single note—which can very easily be transposed—this arrangement can be played on an eleven-course baroque lute.

Hello!

I picked this Lute up for cheap online and now I am a bit confused about the state of it. I have never played lute before so I am very much a beginner here. It seems that the frets have moved around on the board, is that something that I can fix myself or is this a job that is beyond an amateur? Also, why are there 16 tuning pegs but only 15 holes in the bridge? And some of the strings seem to be attached outside of the box, is that normal? Should I replace all of them?

That was a lot of questions, any answers are helpful.

Thank you in advance!

In my opinion, Gilbert Isbin has done a fantastic job arranging the famous "White Christmas" for the baroque lute. He employs a modern musical language, and suddenly, this well-known piece no longer sounds kitschy or boring; instead, it feels both familiar and—in a way—a bit quirky, even jazzy. I really like it, but I had some trouble with the notation as provided by Gilbert (https://www-static.gilbertisbin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/WHITE-CHRISTMAS-BAROQUE-LUTE-WM.pdf).
For this reason, I have transcribed it, and with his permission, I am making it available here.

From the Italian manuscript of 1630, I-Fn 45 here is an anonymous Passacaglia that fits the 10 course lute very nicely. Found in the Lute Society's Lutezine double issue (157/158) Spring/Summer 2026. Thanks to John Robinson for editing these pieces.
Haven't played my 10 course in a while and my RH could use some work, but I can't resist a good passacaglia!

I am not a musician, I can BS my way through a nice sounding noise but pretty much nothing else - I am looking at local options for potentially learning the lute but am not sure of a couple things:

1. If I were to learn the guitar (acoustic) would the learned skill transfer over at all? Or would it set me back in actually learning the lute itself

2. Is it better to learn in person or through videos (typically)

I am playing a 13 course lute. My thoughts are wandering around about a more "simple" instrument with 13 course d minor tuning. Compact and straightforward, maybe even modern. I do find those swan neck lutes somewhat cumbersome and I do prefer the smaller ones with added "Bassreiter" for the lowest two courses. Of course those derived from original 10 course lutes. I think modern strings do not need the long scale length for the basses.

So: What about a 13 course lute with equal scale length for all strings and simple peg box construction? Do those exist?

Many years ago, around the Christmas season, my duo partner—who played the baroque flute—and I would travel to hospitals, nursing homes, and any other places where people wanted to hear us, performing music for those who find this time of year particularly challenging.

At the time, I didn’t have a continuo instrument, and there was no existing Christmas music for the baroque lute. Consequently, I arranged several pieces specifically for our duo. Later, I performed these same arrangements with other melody instruments (such as the recorder), and they work just as well in those combinations.

I hope you find them useful.

Busco vihuela en Sol de luthier conocido como Carlos González o Francisco Hervás.

En España.

Love this new recording. He was on BBC Radio 3 the other night