On 06/03/14 11:55 AM, Dan Winheld wrote:
That Roosebeck thing seems more like a "beach" or "camping out in the woods" lute than just a travel, per se. A back-up for the risky gigs, or even a financially challenged beginner's better-than-nothing instrument. I would seriously like to check one out; I have known quite a few would be lute students over the year give up because of the unavailability as well as the priceyness of our typical built to order lutes. Any reports on this, from anyone?
I and one of my friends have purchased several instruments from Mid-East. I've played lute for decades, and own two renaissance lutes by Mike Schreiner (Venere in g' and Frei in e') and a medieval lute by Ray Nurse, so I know how a lute should behave.
Ever since Doug Freundlich introduced me to the joys of lute ensembles, I've wanted a baby lute. Being retired and short of cash, I tried a Google search on "descant lute" and found such a thing advertised by Mid-East. It turned out this was really a treble or alto lute in a', but I was interested nonetheless, and decided to gamble on it.
When the lute arrived, I was quite surprised that it was very nicely (if plainly) constructed, and sounded quite nice, if a bit quiet (due to its heavy construction). The only serious drawback was nylon frets, but that's easily fixed.
I was sufficiently impressed that I ordered a Sellas baroque guitar from the same source. My friend ordered a 7-course lute in g'. Again, these are a bit heavily built, but for considerably less than $800, they are pretty darned good.
I gather the Lute Society in England is using the treble lute to teach kids to play lute. It is the most successful of the three instruments.
Apparently, their "travel lutes" differ from their regular lutes in two ways: the bowl is shallower and the peg-box is inclined at 135° to the fingerboard, rather than being almost a right angle. The result is an instrument that is thinner, though not as thin as the ones Colin made. I haven't seen one of these in the flesh, so have no idea how they sound.
So these instruments pose no threat to builders of custom lutes, but give an impoverished beginner a fairly inexpensive entry into the wonderful world of lutes.
Geoff -- Geoff Gaherty Foxmead Observatory Coldwater, Ontario, Canada http://www.gaherty.ca http://starrynightskyevents.blogspot.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
