Laura, glad to know it is possible for you to get the lute back to its maker.
Something to consider for the future. Central heating makes the house dry, it stresses humans, pets, furniture, and musical instruments. Some form of humidification should be considered. I use a small unit that 'nukes' a liter of water into vapor every 24 hours. My house is small, only 800 sq ft on the ground floor; it has a lot of wood inside (besides the frame), and this stores up some moisture, helping to prevent large swings in RH (Arctic air is pretty dry when he Jet stream brings it to long island - welcome in the summer, dreaded in the winter). Yes, one can sometimes leave the top attached near the neck and effect repairs to bars etc, I did that with my own lute to fix a rib come free from the side; its harder to inspect the bar joints this way. They dont always buzz when they need attention. Im sure there is some technology we could borrow from the guys who check out large petrolium storage tanks, but that is hardly something the average luthier has available, unless they work/study at a university... Tap testing isnt a definitive diagnosis; its all one wants to do when the top is firmly on, but if you have reason to suspect crystilization is occuring its a good excuse to remove the top to have a thorough look. BTW, something I forgot to mention - with the bridge off and the strings all loose, the pegs are at risk of falling out and getting confused. Bits of masking tape will allow you to number them, keep em in a jip-lock bag and they wont go astray (individualy that is). As you remove the strings, wind each into a loose coil and place it in a baggie or an envelope, separating the string(s) of each course with a piece of paper. Its usually possible to tell the unisons of courses 1-3 apart, but mix it all up witht he octaves from the bass courses and its a puzzle needing precision measuring tools to sort out. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
