The way a lute is strung makes it _need_ to be assymetrical; the high- pitched strings on one side, one course unpaired, thick strings ont he bass side needing more room for their vibration - the top is braced and thicknessed in zones to accomodate these assymetrical points.
Assembling a lutes body while preserving the intended shape is a major feat, even sometihing as apparantly simple as reattaching a completed shell to the top after doing some simple repairs is not easy - the shell is quite flexible. The human eye is often entrusted with forming subtle curves during fabrication, often refining the work of mere instruments, as in laying rails at the height of the railroad era. A surveyor determined the center of the embankment, but that mainly determined a zone where the ties were layed out. The rails themselves were positioned by the eye of the track boss, both in new work and when an out-of-balance driver wheel had pounded the track into needing realignment. -- dana emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
