Thanks Chris,
"It does have six strings and six tuning pegs, a carved rose, and what looks like a tie-on bridge with carved "ears" much like an early 19th. c. guitar. There are three (!) low, apparently wooden frets, widely spaced, and glued or tacked onto the rather long neck. Perhaps the Kingdom of Dore uses a roughly equal-spaced quadrotonic scale, but the music he plays on it is distinctively of a diatonic, if not chromatic, tinge. Further, his fingering seems to have little to do with either the placement of the frets or the music that his instrument produces. I just wish I could be around in a few hundred years when someone "reconstructs" it." It may be only another couple of years before someone writes a stage-version of 'The Tale of Despareaux'. Then, who knows how this lute might be portrayed. Luthiers could already be working on the technicalities. Or maybe one of us should audition for the role of the king? Best Wishes Ron (UK) To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
