Flat backed student lute based on Hieber (MIM1561)
It still has the same soundboard barring and body shape and neck as the original Hieber but with a peg box similar to the Elizabethan Bandora which also had a flat back. All intended to make the instrument even more affordable than a bowl/ribbed back traditional lute, and easier to hold as some seem to say. So no compromising of the sound by changing the soundboard and thus it sounds the same as a lute, if not better dare I say!
The materials are more affordable yet still quality quarter sawn wood but with some variations in wood tone, small knots and some slight figuring make the wood characterful. Pegs are made in a simple student lute style in pear wood and the flat ribs of the back have boxwood spacers to look like real ribs of a lute. The back is supported internally with some necessary light barring. The neck and peg box are also in pearwood, all one piece for strength.
The fretting is Aquila synthetic fret gut thus it's very long lasting and movable for those wanting to explore temperaments so fixed metal frets, as on other affordable lutes online, don't offer this flexibility. The sound board is Alpine spruce as usually used for lutes, cedar could be used as an even lower cost version but the general consensus is spruce is better/preferred for lutes. The rose is cut carved out from a original anonymous lute in the KHM museum, as with all roses carved by hand is chamfered, certainly not flat or laser-burnt out by machine as seen on the factory made cheap lutes out there.
The body shape is the same as the original and the volume inside the flat back body is measured in volume to match the volume of the bowl backed original so the sound would not be compromised too There's a degree of curiosity as a lute maker to see how much of the lutes sound originates from the soundboard and body volume. The bridge occupies the same area as the original but is in the convenient form of a tied bridge but with a saddle for any future adjustment if needed, the instrument is already setup to be a comfortable low action for easy of playing. The design of the tied bridge and saddle on lutes is not that new as a recent restoration of a lute made in the mid 1970's by Harry Holmes had such a bridge. He was considered ahead of his time with slightly lighter lute construction and the saddle of his bridge made lowering the action easier than a traditional lute bridge would have been. So it was decided to go with that almost now 'vintage' 1970's lute bridge which didn't seem to be detrimental to the sound either.
The neck is the same as the original Hieber in depth and width, the fingerboard is eco-friendly 7000yr old black bog oak with a Corian nut as is the saddle. Such woods/materials helps avoid any potential confusion with customs over materials, and is cheaper too. The pegs are standard student lute pegs but housed in a lute like sickle peg box seen on Bandoras/ mandoras, fitting to the look of the instrument. Some may say why not a traditional bent back peg box(?) well this will add more to the overall cost mostly via the case which tends to be more expensive than a flat backed soft case which this instrument would fit in to. Making a traditional lute peg box involves more pieces, making the neck/peg box joint joint and more work and gluing hence more cost added on the instrument so the guitar style neck with a lute shaped head stock seemed to be the logical affordable decision. The pegs are still traditional friction pegs so no modern machinery on the headstock which intentionally looks more like an instrument from the Elizabethan period (bandora) than a factory made lute guitar.
The stringing is currently double but can be strung with thicker higher tension single strings if preferred, larger holes in the bridge to allow for stringing with D type Aquila basses needed for the higher tension as CD strings aren't available in the required thickness for the basses. Originally single stringing only was considered but after noticing the general consensus for double stringing being associated with the lute sound, including the benefit of octaves brightening the sound then the decision was to allow the player/owner to choose rather than limiting to single stringing only. Of course the single stringing option allows for it to be played as a lute-guitar or mandora too but with a more authentic lute sound than the current lute guitars of a similar price range.
£590 (not inc case)
