Early medieval lute and kwitra

[Dusepo]

[Simon DS]

Really nice, I like the second one especially.

I was wondering, looking at the paintings, do those ones have flat bottoms, or is that shadowing that the artist put in?

[Dusepo]

Really nice, I like the second one especially.

I was wondering, looking at the paintings, do those ones have flat bottoms, or is that shadowing that the artist put in?

Can you clarify which part you mean by the bottoms?

[billhay4]

I suspect he wonders of the staves of the backs are coved.
Just a guess.
Bill

[Beanzy]

I love what you've done with the ace of spades type hole in the second one.

Do we ow why they have the second mini-hole in the paintings? or maybe that's a bit too detailed to have survived the passing of the centuries.

[Dusepo]

I love what you've done with the ace of spades type hole in the second one.

Do we ow why they have the second mini-hole in the paintings? or maybe that's a bit too detailed to have survived the passing of the centuries.

It was mainly a stylistic thing. There are also later paintings where the upper rosette is in the shape of a church window. The style is probably from the oud, where the medieval lute came from, as those have 3 soundholes.

- - - Updated - - -

I suspect he wonders of the staves of the backs are coved.
Just a guess.
Bill

I'm still not sure I understand... sorry. The back is flattened in the paintings? That seems unlikely given other evidence.

[Simon DS]

Can you clarify which part you mean by the bottoms?

Sorry, it’s the backs I should have said, are they flat?
From the paintings, if you look at the instrument from the front then normally you cant see the sides, especially if the sides are curved. I guess I was wondering if at that time were any flat backed lutes built?

[Dusepo]

Sorry, it’s the backs I should have said, are they flat?
From the paintings, if you look at the instrument from the front then normally you cant see the sides, especially if the sides are curved. I guess I was wondering if at that time were any flat backed lutes built?

All other evidence of lutes suggests rounded backs, so it seems unlikely but you never know! More likely it's just shadow, or an artist who'd not seen many before...

[Dusepo]

Sound and video sample of kwitra:


Sound and video sample of early medieval lute:

[Richard500]

I like the multifunction aspect. A quill plectrum that can be used to jot down notes. Or jab critics.

[darylcrisp]

i loved how the second instrument in the video sounded(Lute?).
at times it almost looked as though there were faint glimmers of frets, i looked back at your pictures(the first instrument), and looking at the front and back, it appears to have nylon tied around the neck to act as a fret?
am i correct on this?(i know nothing about a Lute)

i always look at your threads, always amazed with the instruments.
thank you for posting
d

[Dusepo]

i loved how the second instrument in the video sounded(Lute?).
at times it almost looked as though there were faint glimmers of frets, i looked back at your pictures(the first instrument), and looking at the front and back, it appears to have nylon tied around the neck to act as a fret?
am i correct on this?(i know nothing about a Lute)

i always look at your threads, always amazed with the instruments.
thank you for posting
d

Yes that is correct, lutes almost always have tied frets as that was what they historically had (I say almost always because there are some modern hybrid ones which have modern fixed metal frets).