Lute-Ulele

[Terry Aucoin]

Greetings people!

Here is a picture of an instrument I just finished. Its a flat back lute with a Ukulele Scale! Came out nice and sounds good.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc ... 7418_n.jpg

I used popular, red cedar, and black walnut.

[Neal Carey]

Terry, looks very nice. What scale ukulele? Tenor? BTW, it would be good if you uploaded the photo here.

[Terry Aucoin]

It would be an Concert Ukulele scale.

[Terry Aucoin]

I am trying to build my first TRUE Lute mold for a half circle body. Its the hardest part it seems. I want to build a medieval lute and also use the bowl shape body for another Lute-ulele.

[Mark Day]

I 've been studying this for quite a while now. For a medieval half-round style, you apparently do not need a mold according to these two examples:
http://www.cincinnatiearlymusic.com/medieval_lute.html
http://www.crane.gr.jp/MakingLuteZero/C ... 1Body.html

The Crane site's lute building page(s) unfortunately have messed up fonts so you can't translate the Japanese, but the pictures help.
The first link is Larry Brown's site. He is also helpful if you email him.
For renaissance lute the David Van Edwards CDROM course is probably the best thing out there. The Lundberg book is good, but there are soooo many steps not covered. I wouldn't attempt to build a lute based solely on that book. It's not like the Cumpiano/Natelson book for guitar building. Had Robert Lundberg lived long enough he may have eventually put something more comprehensive together. The book was made from articles he had in the GAL magazine and lectures he gave. He might have intended to eventually create something more akin to the Van Edwards course. Alas, we will never know.
Finally, the lute society of America has a biannual conference which reportedly always has luthiers present and there is usually at least a seminar or two on repair/maintenance. There is a seminar this summer in Ohio.
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/seminar/index.html

[Mike Wilson]

The LSA conference in Cleveland this year does have a couple classes on Lute making or setup.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/semina ... urses.html

[Terry Aucoin]

I have a few sets of plans, and have talked to Larry Brown. I have made a few wedges, cut half lute pattern on them, and tried the shape the ribs off of the cut wedges once bend to shape. Larry Brown makes it look simple, well.. its not.. at lease for me.. They just done match up when trying to glue to each other on the jig..
I have Lundbergs book and Coopers books as well.. I have the knowledge, just lack the hands on skills....
I just got a set of medieval lute plans off ebay. It has full mold plans for a station mold. Another USA lute maker Chad Neal has told me to use clear 1/16 plastic and mark out rough rib shape and then trans to wood, and then file them into shape..

[Terry Aucoin]

Mark, have you printed those free lute plans on the Japanese guys page? I'm gonna go hit out a place by me and see what they can do... seems its 24 x 36 in US size?

[Mark Day]

Terry, yes I have - on regular letter paper. In the printer properties select "tile all pages" and you will end up with a "life-size" mosaic that you can tape together. Make sure to check the "print cut lines" to give you reference lines to keep everything straight. If you can then laminate it, you can end up with a pretty good working drawing especially when you consider the price!

[Mark Day]

Terry, yes I have - on regular letter paper. In the printer properties select "tile all pages" and you will end up with a "life-size" mosaic that you can tape together. Make sure to check the "print cut lines" to give you reference lines to keep everything straight. If you can then laminate it, you can end up with a pretty good working drawing especially when you consider the price!
It was good to read your feedback on Larry's method of rib shaping on the 1/10 mold. I know a lot of guys use an inverted handplane to shape the ribs. Larry's method seems like it would be more foolproof and predictable, but maybe not. Makoto also shows different methods of jointing the ribs with and without spacers:
http://www.crane.gr.jp/MakingLuteZero/C ... 1Body.html

I have yet to build my first lute. I'm still tweaking my bandsaw to cut true so I can start cutting some ribs, but hopefully will be starting a "travel lute" based on Makoto's free plan. I'm trying to read as much as I can, but will inevitably learn by doing. I wish I could attend David Van Edward's lute making school, but I can't justify the expense as an amateur.