I’m currently working on a 7-course student lute. It’s based on the wonderful Georg Gerle lute in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Gerle made this lute for the cabinet of rarities of his patron. It is believed to be a depiction of an earlier lute model. The bowl was made out of ivory strips, seperated with ebony strips. It one of only two 6-course lutes which survive in original state.
When musical fashions changed the lutes were rebuilt. Wider necks, different barring patterns etc. Some lutes have had multiple changes over the course of their life. Like exemaples by the great masters Laux Maler and Hans Frei. These lutes were rebuilt from 6-course to 8/10 course renaissance lutes, to be changed later to 14 course baroque lutes, later some even were set up as guitars… On one hand this is a pity, because we can’t see these lutes in their original state. But on the other hand it probably is the only reason they survived in the first place…
This is going to be a student model. Which means that the execution is quite plain. The maple strips for the bowl are not matched and there will be no unnecessary inlays or frills.
The Dutch Luthier 