Mateus Baroque Lutes

The baroque lute is characterized by the d-minor tuning: ADFadf, with a number of diatonic diapason (open, tuned in octaves) bass strings. These instruments generally have longer necks (around 5 cm, or 2 inches) to accomodate the lower note of the top string, and this gives the instrument a generally deeper, richer sound in the bass. While this longer string length might seem to create problems in stretching for small hands, the style of writing relies heavily on open strings and rarely calls for stretches. These are pretty drastically different instruments from the Renaissance and represent a new style of technique for the player.

New! (Posted 6/14/08) 15 Course Lute

This 15 course baroque lute is one of my latest creations. It was specially built for John Schneiderman. Click on the images to get another window with a larger view.

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14 Course Lute

This 14 course baroque lute is one of my latest creations. It was specially built for Yasunori Imamura. Click on the images to get another window with a larger view.

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11 Course Lutes.

This is the classic "French lute" of the 17th century: ideal for Dufaut, Gaultier, Mouton and Gallot It also works well for a number of German composers, including David Kellner, Esaias Reusner and J.G. Conradi., but you can't play all of Weiss on it. (Although 12 course lutes existed, we don't see many of them either historically or today.)

Click on the following images below to get a larger version. This 11-course lute is my latest creation. It is my own design with a string length of 67.5 cm:

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For some pictures of the construction of this lute see the bottom of the Construction Page.

13 Course Lutes.

This is the classic "German Baroque lute" of the 18th century, and represents the final stage in the lute's evolution. These come in two styles: those with a bent back peg box and bass rider and "theorboed" lutes with a neck extension (see picture to the left.) I have a number of options, and we'll want to discuss which best fits your needs.

Johann Christian Hoffmann, 1730 — 11 Ribs Bass and Treble Riders, (710-770mm)
Martin Hoffmann,1690 — German Theorbo-Lute, Swanneck Double Pegbox 9 Ribs (690-970mm)
Martin Bruner, 1764 — German Theorbo-Lute, Swanneck Triple Pegbox (681-825-935mm)

Click on the images below to get a larger version:

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