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I was wondering if anyone had a set of plans for a medieval, or Renaissance lute they would be willing to share?
I was gonna order the book by Lundberg(Historical Lute Construction), but can't find it in stock anywhere? there's alot of pages on the web with pictures, but no measurements.

or does anyone know the measurements of a 9 rib lute bowl?


Thanks
Terry

I am looking forward to the day when those plans are submitted. I would love to build one.

The Lundberg book is published by the GAL. They don't say anything about being out of stock on their web page.

http://www.luth.org/books/luteblrb.htm

greetings

I am undergoing the process of fitting maple ribs on my renaissance lute mold, and I for some reason can not get the back of the first three ribs right? anyone know how to best make a kind of template for getting the rough maple blanks sized better at the start?

Can you post a picture of your mould and I'll see if I can help you, it's easy to maker a template from the mould.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

here is the 13 rib mold I made following the instructions in Roberts book..

I have the middle rib done so far, just as he discribed...

pics

I'm sorry, but I can't see from your pictures if you have a faceted mould or a round one. Faceted moulds are my preferred method, as they more fully follow the shape of the ribs, which are of course flat and form a faceted shell. With the faceted mould it's easy to lay a piece of paper over the facet and just rub the lines onto it from which you can make a slightly oversize rib. The rib then has to have the angle planed onto its edge where it abuts the next rib. I put a #5 plane upside down in the wood vice and rub the rib edge onto it.

Are you using stinging to separate the ribs? If so you'll have to allow for the thickness as you go.

However I prefer the skeleton mould as it allows better access and inspection of the interior while building.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

its a faceted mold I have shaved the rib pattern so the wood ribs would lay flat on the mold..
I'm not using spacers!

I have seen pictures of hollow molds, but no directions so far on building them? they look like less hand work to make!

Terry

Hi Terry! I was thinking something like this may be of help. I have an interest in such things aswell.

http://www.khalafoud.com/Jameel_OudConstruction.htm

This was a most imnformative instruction for me.

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You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you're got music. -Sid Vicious

I have made lutes since 1965. I was master musical instrument maker in Colonial Willamsburg from 1970 to 2009. I used to use a mold,but it isn't really necessary. If you make a master wedge,and bend each strip,cutting it to fit the master wedge,you can just tape and glue the ribs together in the air. It is necessary to bend the ribs accurately to shape,but the lute will generate its shape quite nicely. It is possible that this is the way lutes were originally made. Lute molds would have been difficult to make by hand. The final 2 ribs are left blank on the sides that they present to the top. That leaves room for you to hand plane the body's top edge until it lies on a flat surface accurately.

The key is to bend each rib accurately. Tape will not be strong enough to pull misshapen ribs together. It is plenty strong enough to hold the joints together while the glue dries. No doubt,they would have used paper strips with dried hide glue on 1 side,and just wetted the hide glue to activate it. We have the luxury of masking tape.

We found,after using molds for years,that this process was less problematic than using molds. You can build up a body pretty quickly this way.