The development of this page in recent years, and a brief history of sales.

Because we do not just run a 'continuous' waiting-list, but rather prefer to reserve regular 'gaps' in our schedule, we are able to build several instruments 'on spec' during the course of the year, and thereby can usually work with a player to enable him or her to obtain an instrument in a reasonably short space of time.

We currently (June 3rd 2008) have one lute available, an 8c. All of the other instruments that were being offered here have been sold since the page was last updated in mid-February.

However, a 10-course lute in f# will be coming up in late July; and an 11c French baroque lute which we had started in May will be ready over the summer.

We have various other instruments in the 'planning & sawing of wood' stages and under construction, including a bass-rider Schelle model 13c baroque lute, all planned for completion over the summer and autumn of 2008.

The new versions of these models will be announced as they approach completion, as current pressure of work permits; a comprehensive list of what is available now and what is coming up during the year can be found further down this page; this list is regularly updated.

The instruments which are listed above and below are all genuinely available (or under construction) and are not, for example, in the case of the Voboam guitar and 8 and 10-course Hans Frei lutes (3 examples of instruments which have appeared frequently over the past few years and just as quickly been snapped-up or reserved) the same instruments simply put on the site just to fill out space, or to only give the impression that we are making and selling these instruments – as one (presumably incredulous) 'colleague' apparently suggested to a player who was planning to buy an instrument listed on this page (the player went on to buy three more instruments, and went on to order two more).

We have sold a large number of these particular Frei and Voboam models from this page of our website since the site was created in May 1998, for the simple reason that they satisfy an obvious demand which exists from players needing and wanting a 'classic' 8 or 10-course lute or baroque guitar straight away – and we are perhaps uniquely placed to be able to respond to this demand; these models continue to be much sought-after.

This means in reality that as soon as we sell an 8-course or 10-course Frei lute, or Voboam guitar, for example, we prepare the timber and start building another to offer for sale, as soon as our schedule permits (and if the mould isn't being used for somebody's regular order); another very popular model in recent years has been the French theorbo illustrated further down this page.

Taki Meguru of Tokyo, Japan, following a visit to the workshop on the 28th of June 2003, reserved the 8-course we were planning to build for the end of August that year, and collected it on August 23rd.

And when he visited us over the weekend of 7th - 9th November 2003 to collect the lute he'd ordered, João Pedro Oliveira reserved the then-forthcoming 8-course Frei lute, which he collected in February 2004 (having taken advantage of one of our reserved 'gaps'); he went on to place an order for a 13-course baroque lute.

Eight-course lutes built and offered for sale here in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008

We had started building a new 8-course version of the Frei model shown below in August 2005 (the 7-course version having been sold in July to Herbert Ward, of Austin, Texas). This 8-course was reserved on September 1st 2005 by Nick Makris, of MIT, Boston; Nick has gone on to order a 13c baroque lute. The next 8-course was pencilled-in for January 2006; however, almost as soon as we announced its construction in December 2005, it was reserved by Luca Manassero, of Portogruaro, Italy.

2006

The next version we were planning for late February / early March 2006 was reserved by Michael Lynch, from Somerset, England, at the end of January; we fitted the instrument into our schedule, and Michael collected it on March 23rd.

The next 8-course Frei model which was planned to be available later in April was reserved on March 16th by Peter Greener, of Hertfordshire, England, who had approached us subsequent to trying various instruments at the Lute Society 'lute exhibition' in 2005.

Following completion of Peter Greener's 8-course, the mould was used next to make a 10-course which was on order, and which was delivered to its new owner – Joachim Lüdtke – at the June Regensburg festival. Having been unable – because of sheer pressure of work – to complete an 'on spec' 8c in time for the Regensburg exhibition in early June 2006, we next used the mould to make an 8c ordered by Bruce Butler, of Buckinghamshire, England; we then managed to get on the case with a new 'on spec' 8c lute during August, this was subsequently bought by Mark Meier, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin USA.

2007

A new example which was available earlier in 2007 (having been finished in January) was bought by professional lutenist, baroque guitar player and theorbist Eligio Quinteiro. A few weeks later, Eligio kindly found time in a very busy schedule to return to the workshop in order to show his new 8c to Din Gharni, a software designer who lives in the West Country and who was up in London, visiting this year's Lute Society Hackney lute exhibition. Din called by the workshop on the Sunday afternoon after the exhibition had finished, played some of his favourite pieces on the lute, and declared that he wants one of these lutes as soon as he can fit it into his budget.

A subsequent version of this model – which was shown at the 2007 Regensburg Tage Alter Musik exhibition, which took place over the Pfingsten (Whitsun, Pentecost) weekend, May 26th – 28th – was sold in mid-July to Din Ghani, a lutenist and viola da gamba player from Wiltshire.

2008

The most recent version was sold to Erik Corsmit, in Antwerp, on our way back from the Vienna Resonanzen exhibition, on 1st February. A new instrument is currently available (please see further down this page).

The composite image above shows two recent 8 course and 10 course versions of our very popular Frei model.

We hope that this explains how this page of the website works: and although until a few years ago we resisted the idea of listing people who have bought these instruments, many customers have suggested that we say where and to whom they have been sold. Concerning sample sales during 2002, for example, a 10-course sold in February went to Lucas Harris (NYC), an archlute sold in March went to Houston, Texas, to a student of an old friend, Bruce Brogdon, and a vihuela sold in April went to California. John Buckman, the buyer of the vihuela, had also 'reserved' an 8-course Hans Frei model, which was originally destined for this section of the site - having discovered that it was imminent - and when he came to the workshop on April 11th to collect the lute, he decided to buy the vihuela too. A 10-course announced in May 2002 as being ready in June/July was reserved on the 30th May by a player in Florida, who, upon receiving it, immediately ordered a 7-course to go with it, and subsequently bought a Voboam guitar listed here in February 2003; we built him an archlute in August 2006.

The next two 10-course instruments built 'on-spec' during 2003 were reserved and bought almost as soon as we announced them, one going to a player in Germany, the other – bought at the end of 2003 – going to Dennis Murray, a player living in Lakefield, Ontario.

We finished the next version of this instrument in time to be exhibited in Regensburg at the Tage Alter Musik festival in late May 2004; it was played by many there, all of whom liked it very much. It was subsequently bought on June 16th 2004 by classical guitarist Peter Massey, of Maidstone, Kent, who visited the workshop to try it, and bought it on the spot.

Back in March that year (ie, 2006) we sold the then most recently-available version of this 10-course to a player in England, and the subsequent version went to another English player in December 2006.

In previous years, during the winter of 2001-2, customers in Japan snapped-up a 13 course, a 10 course and a Voboam 1680 guitar. The distinguished American players Stephen Stubbs and Andrew Maginley – who were at the time based respectively in Bremen and Stuttgart, Germany – both bought Voboam 1680 guitars in August and September 2001 directly via this section of the site, and both players use them for solo as well as continuo work. The Mexican lute, vihuela and baroque guitar player Radamés Paz took delivery of one he had ordered just before Stephen and Andrew, and like theirs, his guitar continues to more than earn its living. The next Voboam guitar offered here was bought (on May 5th 2002) by a player here in England.

The next one built never made it onto this page: in early July 2002, Anja Inwald, then a student of Stephen Stubbs in Bremen, who got fed-up with delays and excuses and a frustrating wait, with no firm promise of a definite build date (for a guitar she had ordered elsewhere some time ago, and now needed urgently for the coming academic year) asked us when the next Voboam like Steve's was going to be built. Discovering that we had just started one, she put down a deposit on it, cancelled her 'vanishing-point' order and collected the new guitar from us at the Bruges exhibition at the beginning of August; her comment after playing it back home in Bremen:

"Beautiful, wonderful - it does everything I want it to, I'm really very, very happy".

Another Voboam guitar which was completed in time for the Vienna Resonanzen exhibition in January 2003 was bought at the beginning of February 2003 by an existing customer in Florida, who had contacted us while we were on the way back to London from Vienna; the next of these guitars planned (having sold the then most recent one to a player in Norway in October 2003) was reserved by Bruce Brogdon, of Houston, Texas, who emailed us when he received it:

"The sound is wonderful, and it plays very well. My previous instrument has a rather 'blocky' neck, and I ended up not playing the guitar repertoire for the last couple of years. It is great to get back to it. As I continue playing this guitar, the more glorious it sounds!"

In March of 2003, a Checchucci vaulted-back Italian guitar was snapped-up by James Bisgood, a guitarist and lutenist who works at the Globe Theatre, London, just after we'd announced our intention to build one and offer it for sale; Jim has been using this instrument professionally now for nearly three years, in performances in the UK and the USA. Audiences at The Globe Theatre in London will have seen and heard it in performance many times; the guitar is shown below:

Lesser French theorbo

As we've already mentioned, many instruments we build to offer for sale don't even make it onto the site - in early January 2002, we sold a lesser French theorbo, which had been intended to be offered for sale at the Vienna Resonanzen 2002 exhibition, to a UK customer who contacted us just as we'd started varnishing it, prior to leaving for Vienna.

A French Theorbo identical to the one shown below was bought in November 2002 by Wim Maeseele, the up-and-coming Belgian lutenist and continuo specialist based in Bruges; we delivered the instrument to Wim in Bruges on the way back from the Herne exhibition that year, and he marvelled at its clarity, power and articulation. We have previously built a larger theorbo and a baroque guitar for Wim, as well as selling him one of the 'Fugger' 6c lutes (against our better judgement - we wanted to keep it as part of our collection of these lutes - although we've since built another to replace it). He recently completed the recording of a CD of 6-course lute pieces, using it.

The next 'on spec' example of this theorbo was sold earlier in 2003, on March 2nd, to a player in Norway, Erik Skanke Høsøien, whose main study then was classical guitar; he wanted to start playing theorbo and continuo, and decided to buy this instrument after playing an identical one we built for Ulrik Gaston Larson, another Norwegian player, in April 2002. The next model built after that one was reserved and bought by a Japanese player, Yasuhiko Suzuki; following a visit to the workshop in September 2003, Clive Ray, an English player living in Trieste, Italy reserved the lesser French theorbo then under construction. The last one built in 2003 went to Michael Miranda in Alhambra, California, who wrote upon receiving it:

"Hello Stephen and Sandi, The theorbo has finally arrived – WOW! what exquisite craftsmanship and richness of tone. The string spacing is perfect and feels extremely comfortable – my right hand is adapting quickly – the set-up and playability is excellent. I've been sight reading as much as possible and working on a simple (?) Pittoni sonata and some Kapsberger and Piccinini dances to get my fingers wet. Spacing is very different from my 8 course (van der Vaals) so it takes a bit to transition, re-adjust, and find my way around. Not having played theorbo before, figuring out how to hold it presents a problem in itself as well as learning some new lute-navigations skills. All in all, I am in heaven. The soundboard is an absolutely gorgeous piece of wood . . . the sound is absolutely seductive. My wife (of 15 years) told me what a joy it is to be surrounded by sounds like this. Thanks, Michael Miranda".

We subsequently built another French theorbo, which was sold at the end of 2004 to Victor Anand Coelho (see below); the next one – which had been been under construction earlier in 2005 – was sold on May 28th to Sean Ferguson, of Columbus, Ohio. Another of these instruments was built as a client's order in August 2005, with the final 'on spec' 2005 theorbo being bought by Philip MacLaughlin, of Sligo, Eire. We didn't manage to fit another of these in during 2006 as an 'on-spec' instrument, but one is currently under construction, and will be available in late 2007.

Available during the summer and autumn of 2008:

We have a selection of instruments currently under construction – others we plan to build and offer as listed below, depending upon being able to fit them in between regular orders. We naturally have to prioritise existing orders over the instruments made 'on spec' listed here, but we try as far as possible to keep to the proposed build dates listed on this page.

Instruments which are regularly offered here include: 6, 7, 8 and 10-course lutes; 13-course baroque lutes, baroque guitars; archlutes and theorbos; we hope that the selection listed below is of interest.

Should you consider reserving one of the instruments listed here (or inquire what is likely to become available over the next few months) you are welcome to do so.

Please ask us for up-to-date details:

sb.sh@LutesAndGuitars.co.uk

Instruments available now, and in preparation

One lute – an 8-course – is currently finished and available. Several Voboam-model baroque guitars were made 'on spec' during 2007, and offered on this page, the first example being sold to a Seattle-based player, Elizabeth Brown, in February 2007, its successor was sold in late March to Mark Mancina, a guitarist and film music composer who works in Hollywood, and another to Tuomas Rauramaa, Jyväskylä, Finland, who was our first 'internet' customer, back in 1998. The last one made in 2007 went to Keith Richards, who'd taken an interest in earlier guitars after his cameo appearance in the latest of the 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' trilogy, playing the guitar-strumming father of Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp's character. The latest three have also now been sold or pre-reserved.

Others instruments which are in the pipeline are described in detail below; we are currently working on an a French theorbo, a new model of baroque guitar (the Leipzig 'Mariani' guitar) all of which will be ready over the Summer and Autumn of 2008, other commitments permitting. We've already prepared the wood for the back and the soundboard of new examples of the Frei 10-course lute, which we hope to have ready later in July, as well as another 13-course Schelle bassrider-type baroque lute slated for the late Summer.

We are well underway on the new example of the archlute. It, along with the Voboam guitar model, is much in demand, and has become a 'regular' on this page.

The instruments which are currently under construction are being fitted-in between existing orders (which naturally have to take priority) and their completion and availability will be announced here in due course, as they become ready. Preliminary work has been done on the other instruments planned, and they are also in progress.

Please inquire if you are interested in reserving any of them; their specifications and materials will be similar to the instruments illustrated here, although of course you would be able to select timbers and rose designs, should you decide to reserve an instrument that is still at an early stage; please feel free to contact us.

8-course lute
624mm (after Hans Frei) f# tuning – can also be strung and played in g'

11-rib back made from a beautifully-figured, hard and sonorous ash; ebony-veneered neck and pegbox; ebony pegs with bone pips; snakewood soundboard half-edging and fingerboard points.

The new instrument can be seen in the images directly below.

Another version of our popular 'Vienna' Frei model, these lutes have a very clear, full sound – well balanced and strong in all registers; this new lute was played and admired at the recent Regensburg tage Alter Musik exhibition, including by Ronn McFarlane, who liked it very much.

£3200

Available now

The previous version of this instrument which we completed in late December was sold to Erik Corsmit, in Antwerp, on January 31st, while we were en route back from the Resonanzen 2008 exhibition in Vienna.

Erik contacted us via email while we were staying with friends in Holland, en route back to London from Vienna; the following day, we were able to meet him (having taken on the Antwerp Ring the only way you can – by driving as 'creatively' and as fast as those around you – a turbocharged car is useful when attempting this). We showed him the lute, which he bought on the spot.

Erik's lute has a back made from a highly-figured and unusual ash, very similar to the original Hungarian Ash which we obtained in the aftermath of the October 1987 Hurricane. This particular timber – from an old, slowly-growing tree – came from the north of England, and its grain is very similar to true Hungarian Ash, but with a slightly more 'marbled' figure. Images of another lute made from this wood – newly-completed, and currently available – are shown above.

The lute shown above was sold to Mark Maier, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin USA, on October 23rd 2006. Mark sent us this email upon receiving it:

" Stephen and Sandi, it has been said that "good things come to people who wait", and while in the grand scheme of things I didn't wait long, the phrase should instead read: "spectacular things come to people who wait". The instrument is a true work of art. And, it sounds equally as spectacular as it looks. I could not be happier! Now all I have to do is develop some lute 'chops', as it were. Thank you again for your kind indulgence with my pestering phone calls. It was a pleasure working with you both, and I hope that I can sometime visit your workshop. With kindest regards, Mark Meier".

(The body frets had not been fitted when the photographs above were taken, but the instrument was subsequently fitted with its fixed wooden frets, up to and including the 12th fret).

Another example, made in July 2007 – shown above – has a back made from a very hard and beautiful, silkily-flamed maple, which came from a tree which was blown down almost 20 years earlier, on Clapham Common, south London, in the Great Storm of October 1987. We have made several instruments from this timber, and the next 'on spec' eight-course lute which we will offer here may well have its back built from it; if so, it will be striped, sawn from two adjacent planks. The rose design of the lute shown above is from the well-known 'Warwick' Hans Frei lute.

The back of the example which had been available earlier in 2007 is similar to that of theSeptember 2006 instrument shown in the images directly below (ie, figured, flamed maple with a subtle, almost 'quilted' figure). Its rose has the design shown in the image above; it was bought by Eligio Quiteiro in March 2007.

This first 'on-spec' example offered here in 2007, which was finished in January, was sold to Eligio, a Spanish player based in London, on 5th March. Eligio visited the workshop on Valentines Day, February 14th, to order a guitar and a vihuela; he came back again on Saturday March 3rd to try a newly-finished liuto attiorbato, and noticed the 8-course lute, which he liked very much, and asked to take it away to try.

Later in the afternoon of March 5th, Eligio sent a text (SMS) message from his cellphone, saying:

"Dear Stephen & Sandi, I'm SO buying this lute!" . He hadn't even been thinking of buying a new Renaissance lute when he came here on that Saturday afternoon in early March . . .

The lute shown above was the featured instrument played in a concert on Friday 15th September 2006 at the Purcell Room, at the South Bank, London, given by The Dowland Project. The concert was part of Inspirations: The Early Music Weekend (artistic advisor Tess Knighton).

The Dowland Project were: John Potter (tenor), the lutenist Stephen Stubbs, Susanna Pell (gamba) Milòs Valent (violin) and the distinguished British jazz sax player and composer John Surman (who was brilliantly playing bass clarinet and soprano sax continuo). John Dowland was the featured composer. Their performance of Flow My Tears was absolutely stunning.

In his forward to the programme, John Potter remarked: "One of the intentions behind our Dowland realisations is to try and recapture the sense of prima vista that performers felt when they encountered new music. No one presumably worried about the things that concern musicologists, such as the appropriateness of instrumentation, adhering to the composer's wishes and other matters of what we now call performance practice. We have no mission to educate or inform (we have no musicological shopping list) – we just want to play the music".

The Dowland project have released two CDs on the ECM label, In Darkness Let Me Dwell (1998) and Care-charming Sleep (2002). Further recordings were made earlier in 2006, with the participation of the Slovakian violinist Milòs Valent, which included songs from the original Carmina Burana ms. and versions of Mass movements by Josquin Desprez and Lassus.

Above are details of the back of another of these 8-course Frei lutes – also made from figured poplar – which was sawn from the same plank as the model sold to Mark Meier, shown two images above.

In late 2005 and early 2006, three 'on spec' versions of this instrument offered here were reserved and bought by players in Italy and England (Luca Manassero, Michael Lynch and Peter Greener) in quick succession.

One of the versions sold from this page earlier this year – in February – was reserved by Michael Lynch, from Somerset, England, who visited the workshop on 3rd February, and was able to choose the rose design and the timber for the back of the then forthcoming instrument (Michael chose flamed maple for the ribs of his lute). He had read this section of the website, and noted that Luca Manassero had reserved the most recent version of this model in December, and had been able to collect it from us in January.

Michael had visited the workshop on 3rd February to confirm his reservation of the then-forthcoming 8-course lute, and subsequently collected it on March 23rd; he sent us this email upon his return to Somerset:

"Hello Stephen and Sandi, just to let you know that the lute and I arrived home safely, but unfortunately not before nightfall. It wasn't easy to get out of the urban ant-heap! Many, many thanks for making such an instrument for me and for spending so much time talking about your art and craft. For those who cannot visit your workshop, your website is a wonderful representation of your expertise and enthusiasm. I do believe it is a resource for all who are interested in fine instruments and I can well imagine that existing and prospective customers will return to it often for consolation and encouragement in a less than perfect world. Right now I am in the foothills of the learning curve but it is going to be fun! Kindest regards, Michael".

(A year on from his first visit, Michael ordered a fluted-back vihuela from us, following another visit to our workshop on March 2nd).

Luca's 8-course had been under construction in December 2005, and had been pencilled-in for completion in early January 2006 – our original plan being to exhibit the lute at Resonanzen 2006; however, almost as soon as we announced its forthcoming availability, it was reserved by Luca, who lives in Portogruaro, Italy. He travelled to Vienna to collect it from us during the Resonanzen 2006 festival; it was very similar to the version shown above, using the same timbers for the back; Luca subsequently emailed us, having had the new lute in his possession for a few days:

"Dear Stephen and Sandi, a quick note to let you know that your lute went from Vienna to Köln, it has been of great company during my business trip there, then finally reached Portogruaro on Friday night. It is a stunning instrument with a very rich voice, improving every day, even under my poor fingers. I couldn't be happier with it. It strongly demands to be played much better than I actually do, therefore helping me to spend every single free minute with it. I am probably the only travelling businessman with a renaissance lute; nobody ever complained and hopefully never will. By the way, I see another lute in my future (a baroque one, this time). I keep a very warm and friendly memory of our meeting and hope to see you soon in London. Kindest regards from Alessandra and myself"

The previous 'on spec' 8-course lute of this design was bought by Nick Makris, a scientist from MIT, Boston and an accomplished player of many plucked, stringed instruments; Nick collected the lute in person from our workshop, and subsequently emailed us:

"Dear Stephen and Sandi, the lute you made for me is a masterpiece. I've had the opportunity recently to play some other finely crafted lutes, and your creation is a special instrument; it comes alive. I play it all the time and it's the one thing guaranteed to put my mind and heart at ease. It took several weeks to really learn how to play properly. At first, I was playing a bit too aggressively, the fingers too used to macho flamenco stuff, guitar action and wide string spacing. But making pieces like Dowland's 'Go From My Window' and Bachelor's 'Monsieur's Almaine' sound and feel right forced me to cut my finger nails and use what I now read is close to 'correct' lute technique, which is really cool. Playing pieces like Johnson's 'Fantasia' on it just sends you to another world.

I can now see how those people in the Renaissance got by without electric guitars! The lute doesn't need an amp for that extra tone colouring, it's built-in, at least when it's made properly. You may not like it, but Jimi Hendrix tunes like 'Little Wing' sound really cool on this lute. There's an electric guitar crispness and punchiness you don't find on other acoustic instruments. I think it's no coincidence that the Henry VIII tune 'Pass Time With Good Company' has the same chords as 'Little Wing' ".

6-course lute in a'
540mm (own design) a' tuning

£3000

To James Yorke, London SW6

This instrument has an 11-rib back from highly-figured Hungarian ash; a figured, haselfichte spruce soundboard, and a neck and pegbox from pearwood. It also has heart-shaped pegs (in ebony alternating with pernambuco) and a boxwood fingerboard, edged with bone, and bone fingerboard points.

Very clear, with a rounded, full sound – although relatively small, these lutes have a very special sound and 'presence' and are particularly well-suited to the more demanding 6-course repertoire, where some of the left-hand stretches can be quite difficult; works extremely well with all-gut stringing.

Axel Wolf, playing another version at the May 2004 Regensburg Tage Alter Musik festival exhibition, was very impressed by its strong, well-balanced and clear sound, and its singing chanterelle, as was Munich-based lutenist Christoph Eglhuber, who subsequently ordered a 7-course version of it; this order was delivered at the 2005 Regensburg exhibition, along with a 6-course version, ordered by Uli Sommerrock, of Ingolstadt. Both were very pleased with their new instruments; they both praised the build and tonal qualities of the three a' lutes, as well as their responsiveness and playability.

At the January 2006 Vienna Resonanzen exhibition, this lute was admired by many players, who commented on how much sound it had for such a relatively small lute; everybody remarked upon the beautiful wood of its back. Violin and gamba-making colleagues at the November 2006 Herne exhibition admired the colour and transparency of its varnish.

6-course Gallichon (mandora)
712mm, after Simpertus Niggel, 1754.

(Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg; MIR 895)

9 rib back in figured, flamed maple; maple neck and pegbox painted black; curved, ebony fingerboard and points; plumwood pegs; delicate, elegant narrow moulding along treble edge of soundboard; pegbox with a decorative, scrolled-edge aperture, and a moulding across its top end; the first string is carried on a chanterelle rider.

£3200

To Phil Spray, Indianapolis, USA, May 31st.

The images above show the general design features of this model; the instrument we have just finished has a back made from a similar maple to the one shown above (cut from the same source: the tree came from Clapham Common, in south London, and is one of the hardest examples of maple that we have ever encountered – a perfect tonewood). We like these instruments, and wanted to make one to show to players who may not have tried an example.

These instruments are currently under construction, and will become available over the summer of 2008; please inquire for up-to-date details.

£3800

Images of the most recent instrument are shown below; it was bought by one UK-based player from Sutton Coldfield in December 2006, the day before another had asked after it. The second player to inquire – who was not in so much of a hurry to get his hands on an instrument – reserved the next 'on-spec' version, the instrument shown below having been snapped-up just before he got in touch. This next version was originally planned to be ready in late March 2007, and was thus reserved by Peter Matthews, of Higham Ferrers, UK, who collected the new instrument on May 19th; its back was made from the same timber, cut from the same plank that yielded the ribs for the lute shown below. The previous version of this lute (shown below) was bought by Chris Hurley, on 17th December 2006.

*The new version of this lute is under construction, and will be very similar to the instrument shown here; we have not finally decided the rose design, but the wood we are using for the back is from the same stock of figured poplar shown here.

The back of the lute shown above is made from a very interestingly-figured and beautiful Italian poplar, colour-varnished; this particular variety of poplar is very hard and dense, and gives a sound which is the equal of any maple or ash species. We used this particuler type of poplar for the two most recent examples of this instrument.

We've made the backs of two 10-course lutes (close-up details of one of them are shown below) – one was an example available from this page (sold back in March 2006) – from a very rare and unusually-figured European maple species, which closely resembles the timber of the lute in the famous Hans Holbein 1533 painting The Ambassadors (London, National Gallery – see below). This timber is used as four of the back ribs of the famous cittern by Girolamo Virchi (the one with the carving said to represent Lucretia Borgia stabbing herself through the heart) which is in the collection of the Kunsthistorischesmuseum, Vienna.

We obtained a supply of this timber in 2004, and have made several instruments using it; we plan to make a 'copy' of the Ambassadors lute – now that we are sure we have finally located the beautiful timber so accurately painted by Holbein.

Having wondered for many years if we'd ever find anything like this maple, we stumbled across it whilst searching for something else (in Romania); it is like a cross between a quilted maple, birds-eye and a burr, with a gentle but definite 'three-dimensional' character. The timber Holbein painted must have been of European origin, and not a North American maple, because birds-eye maple – which only grows in the north-eastern United States – simply was not known in Europe in 1533. Anybody familiar with the painting will know the effect, clearly seen in the images above, where it can be seen in comparison with the timber we recently obtained, used in the three lower images on a 10-course version of a Hans Frei lute, also from the early 16th Century (which would, of course, have originally been a 6-course itself).

This very popular model always has a very clear, full sound; well-balanced and strong in all registers. It is very suitable for the solo repertoire, and is also very useful for accompaniment work and continuo, with its exceptionally fine, clear tone, which is very focused - as one of the most recent buyers of one of these lutes, Stephen Stubbs (the renowned soloist and continuo player) noted.

Dennis Murray, of Lakefield, Ontario, who took delivery of one of these 10 course lutes in early 2004, sent us this message as an email entitled Wow! after receiving it:

"Hello Stephen and Sandi, I have been delayed in obtaining the 10-course lute because of various work-related and travel activities. I was finally able to pick up the instrument last weekend. I must say that it is absolutely outstanding. The workmanship is very, very impressive, the rose is probably the nicest that I have ever seen. After giving the strings about 24 hours to stretch, I was able to give it a pretty good workout yesterday afternoon. Both the sound and playability are excellent. The sustain is perfect, as is the string spacing. It is just so resonant, my renditions of Vallet and Hely have never sounded this good. And yet, as you state on your webpage, the voices are so distinct. Definitely an instrument I hope to be playing for many many years (along with the 11-course, of course). Thank you very much for such a fantastic instrument, for putting up with my frequent queries. The lute was definitely worth the wait".

A subsequent version offered here for sale was bought by Peter Massey, of Maidstone, Kent on June 16th 2004; Peter principally plays the classical guitar, and studied with Hector Quine. He was looking for a responsive, clear instrument for playing Dowland and others, and bought this instrument on the spot when he visited the workshop to try it.

Adrian Walter, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law, Business and Arts of Charles Darwin University, Australia, visited the workshop on the same day as Peter, and spent some time playing this instrument; a specialist in 19th Century guitar technique and performance, he was looking for a strong responsive lute with presence, that would inspire guitar students to take up the lute; he was very convinced by this 10-course Frei model, and ordered an 8-course version for the University, which has now been delivered.

Following the swift sale of that instrument, and its enthusiastic reception at the Regensburg exhibition late in May 2004 (where we were still varnishing it . . .) and back here in London, we got on with building another, which was finished in late October 2004. This also sold earlier in 2005, and the next one offered here – in June 2005 – was built using the 'Holbein' maple for its back.

We decided to use this special 'Holbein' maple for the lute sold in June 2005 and the one after that, to get a 'feel' for its qualities; like the majority of maples grown at a high altitude in eastern Europe, it is hard, crisp and – before varnishing – very white. Its very responsive acoustic qualities certainly help bring out the best in this popular 10-course model, and the second instrument made using this beautiful wood sounded every bit as good as the first one.

A recent example built and offered for sale from this page was finished in late October 2006, and shown at the Herne exhibition in November 2006; it was bought on December 17th by an English player, Chris Hurley, just before Christmas 2006; it and the next example we announced as being made in the early Spring of 2007 were made from figured Italian poplar (see above). Chris took away his new lute just in time for it to be an early Christmas present to himself, and sent this email from work the following morning:

"I spent a good hour or two playing around with the lute and am really looking forward to getting out of work tonight to carry on. The sound is just so good – even Anne commented on it and she's pretty much tone deaf! I'll let you know how I get on over time – hopefully my fingers will get used to having so many strings to choose from. Many thanks for the hospitality yesterday – it's really good to get the opportunity to talk to makers and see some different instruments. All the best for Christmas, and hopefully our paths will cross at some point over 2007. Cheers, Chris".

The second version was reserved shortly afterwards by another English player, Peter Matthews, who collected it on May 19th. Peter emailed this message the following day:

"I've had the first chance to play it today. My God it's a revelation! I've never played anything so responsive, and the spacing of the courses is perfect. If you pick up volume it rings rather than rattles and is so much easier to play than the EMS eight course because it's so much more responsive. Even I sound decent on it (nothing short of a miracle). Also, you're right about seeing it in daylight. The colours, especially in the shell, really stand out. The poplar works beautifully, both in look and volume. On the table you get the chance to see the real artistry of the rose including the indentation around its edge, truly remarkable work. I'm extremely pleased with it.

Finally, I'd like to thank both of you for the welcome you showed me when I visited; I didn't intend to visit your workshop originally, but I'm glad I did. It was nice to meet the pair of you and it gave me the opportunity to realise just how much skill is involved in taking the raw materials and turning them into something quite so magical. Many Thanks, Peter Matthews".

5-course French Baroque Guitar
660mm string length (after Alexandre Voboam, 1680)

Five-piece back of beautiful, fine-grained quarter-sawn Italian cypress (see below) with black/white/black (ebony/holly/ebony) stripes in between; figured walnut sides; ebony-veneered neck and pegbox; ebony pegs with bone pips; classic Voboam 4-tiered parchment rosette.

The original instrument has the distinctive black & white 'Voboam' chevron decoration around its belly and along its neck; however, for this guitar, we've adopted the style and detailing of other surviving, plainer guitars by Alexandre Voboam (the 1690 double guitar in the Vienna KHM and another guitar dated 1652) neither of which have the black & white chevron decoration. This keeps the cost of this model down, whilst producing a guitar which is historically correct in terms of its design, construction and aesthetics.

A 'classic' French flat-back guitar, with a very clear and full sound, excellent for both solo and continuo playing; very similar to the guitar shown here, using the same materials and detailing.

£3400

To Gerard McAree, Dromcollogher, County Limerick, April 17th.

We'll be working on another one of these guitars for completion later in the Autumn; please feel free to get in touch if you are interested in reserving this next version of the guitar.

We had been planning another example for completion in September; however, due to recent events in our lives (outlined at the top of this page) it was not going to be ready until December; it was reserved by Keith Richards (yes, that one) who had been filming the latest in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, in which he plays Johnny Depp's father, and plays a 5-course guitar. Keith – who plays a 5-string electric guitar – decided he wanted one of his own, and felt that the '10-string' guitar would fall easily under his fingers; it'll be interesting to see what he does with this guitar.

The three previous versions of this instrument which have been offered here on this page since January 1st 2007 were sold, to, respectively: Elizabeth Brown, of Seattle, Washington, on February 1st, the next one went to Mark Mancina, of Carmel, California on March 21st (Mark is a classical guitarist and film composer who works in Hollywood. responsible for the soundtracks of films such as Speed and The Lion King) and the one after that Tuomas Rauramaa, Jyväskylä, Finland on May 26th.

The following guitar was reserved by Simon Lilley from Bolton, followed by Gerard McAree, who reserved the next one.

Currently our most sought-after baroque guitar: Stephen Stubbs, Andrew Maginley and Radamés Paz are among owners of this model who use it constantly – it's a guitar that more than earns its keep. They've all commented it's the best baroque guitar they have ever played. It works extremely well with gut stringing, we recommend Nicholas Baldock's excellent Kathedrale gut strings.

A previous version of this guitar went to Bruce Brogdon, of Houston, Texas, in mid-May 2005; having received it, he emailed us thus:

"The sound is wonderful, and it plays very well. My previous instrument has a rather 'blocky' neck, and I ended up not playing the guitar repertoire for the last couple of years. It is great to get back to it. As I continue playing this guitar, the more glorious it sounds!"

A recent version of this instrument was sold to Evert van Berkel, of Stockholm, who emailed us upon receiving it:

"Hi Stephen and Sandi, the guitar arrived safe and sound yesterday evening in Stockholm. As I was producing a live broadcast from the Henze festival at the Stockholm Concert Hall yesterday evening and came home rather late I did not have the opportunity to play the guitar properly yet, but the first impression after tuning up is that it is a beautifully-built, good-sounding instrument and I am for sure going to be very happy with it".

The version before that was reserved on May 4th by James Meadors, of Boston, Massachusetts; James wrote upon receiving it:

"Hello Stephen and Sandi, I just wanted to let you know that the guitar arrived this afternoon and is in perfect condition. I haven't had a chance to play it much, but my initial impressions are very, very positive. The workmanship is beautiful, the woods are attractive and harmonius, and the rosette is magnificent. As a classical guitarist, I relate very easily to the sound and feel; the sustain is excellent, making slurs very easy, and the quality of the sound is very beautiful. I will write again after I've had a chance to play it more, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this instrument!"

The next version had been under construction and well underway – following completion of James' guitar – and was planned to be ready for late August / early September 2006 (we'd prepared the wood for another guitar whilst building the instrument that James had bought). Evert bought that instrument; we then sold the subsequent example (which was exhibited at Resonanzen 2007 exhibition over the weekend of January 20th – 21st) to Elizabeth Brown and Mark Mancina, who live in Seattle and Carmel, California respectively.

The next version is scheduled for completion in December (2007); please feel free to get in touch if you are interested in reserving this next version of the guitar.