baroque lute after Hans Frei

Original Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, C33

This instrument must originally have been build as a 6 or maximum 7 course instrument according to the time Hans Frei lived. The instrument had been altered later into this 11 course lute, which is now shown in Vienna in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Such altering happened very often to lutes during their life

• As a 11-course baroque lute I offer this model as follows:
• mould with 11 ribs made out of fine curly maple with black spacers
• Soundboard made out of fine european spruce, having the original design for the rose, rosewood or ebony inlay around the edge to give a good protection
• The neck is made out of lime wood which is then veneered with ebony or other wood on request, according to the fingerboard or pegbox.
• The fingerboard is made out of ebony
• The string length is 67,4 cm
• For the pegbox I use beech which is veneered with ebony
• For the pegs I use plum wood, a very good wood for this purpose or boxwood
• The mould is varnished with french polishing
• Neck, fingerboard and pegbox are oiled, the soundboard is covered with wax.

For this lute model too I can offer to make the soundboard with very old spruce. I got this material while looking after wood for the sides of some door I had to make in our new house. It is not possible to say exactly how old this wood is, but I assume around 200 - 250 years had passed since this tree had been cut down. As this material is not as wide as modern pieces, I have to glue it several times. In most cases the soundboard will have 6 parts. You will nearly not see the parts and this will not cause a change in the sound. You have to remember, that often the soundboard of old lutes were not made only with two pieces as it is Standard today. Why to use old spruce? May be you have been heard or even played a old lute from the 17th or 18th century. So you have in mind the different sound. This is the case with that old soundboard material for a new lute. Naturally it will not be the same, but the tendency is clear: the sound is much warmer and a bit darker. In combination with gut strings it is a dream.