Hello all lutenetters, I do not often post, although I have been following the lutelist for many years. As some of you know, I have been playing renaissance lute for over 30 years. The last time I had a lute made for me was back in 1981,and although I've had to modify it with the ages to make it more suitable, it remains a pretty heavy lute. For the last 10 years, I have been involved primarily with medieval music, and for lack of funds, have been playing on either my renaissance lute, a moroccan oud, or a turkish laouta. I am at the point where I really would like to buy myself a 5 course medieval lute. The price has to be fairly low, as music is just a hobby now and cannot justify such an expense easily. Last year I met with Laura Maschi ( an argentinian lute player) in Paris, who pointed out the agentinian luthier Raul Perez.
www.raulperezluthier.com I have contacted him, and he quotes me a price of 1500 US without the case, and a 12 month wait. He proposes a 50 cm string length, 5 courses after Arnold De Zwolle I would like to know if anyone has ever dealt with him, seen or played his lutes. I am looking for information on his reliability, quality of craftsmanship and generallly overall impression of his lutes. The other factor which I have to take in consideration is the climate of Argentina , versus the climate in Canada. In the summer we have high humidity levels, which I guess are probably as high as Patagonia, however the winters are pretty dry, hence the lute might be at risk of developing cracks more easily. Any advice and or information would be of help. I have posted two pics of his medieval lute at http://estavel.no-ip.org/lutepics thank you -- Bruno Cognyl-Fournier Luthiste, etc Estavel Ensemble de musique ancienne www.estavel.org -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
