The Workshop This was the eleventh summer school we've run based on the idea of jointly making a lute in a week. The lute is then donated to the Lute Society for use as a hire instrument. In the past we have made a six course renaissance lute, a 13 course ‘swan-neck’ German baroque lute, a 14 course theorbo, a six course bass lute, an eleven course baroque lute, a seven course tenor lute, a 14 course liuto attiorbato and two renaissance lutes to be used in the Norfolk School lute-playing project. This year we were making a double-headed 12 course lute. It is an opportunity to learn in practical terms how to make a lute and to take part in the different processes. Not all the pictures are in the right order, but I hope it gives a proper flavour of the week. To return to this years summer school and the list of past summers click here. Click here to see all the pictures as a slideshow Slideshow
	The traditional group photocall showing the lute-to-be as a pile of wood. It's a surprisingly small pile as a lute is after all very light. Although it is a very complex instrument I feel very confident of this group who have between them a lot of experience. They are (from left to right) Thea Abbott our mistress of ceremonies and chef, Nick Gravestock from Ashby de la Zouch, Julien Stryjak from Strasbourg, David Henley from Wolverhampton, David Luff from Newark, Luke Emmett from Bedford, Nicolas Eterradossi from Quintin and David.
	Nicolas tapes one of the first ribs into place watched by the two Davids. The system uses a lot of sellotape, one of these days we must try what we assume to be the traditional method of glued paper. That kind of ’spot-welding’ technique is described in the 1676 book Musick’s Monument by Thomas Mace but as far as I know no professional maker uses it nowadays.
	Julien and David practise rose cutting before doing the real thing..
	Nicolas in mid-stroke planing one of the soundboard bars to thickness.
	Nick bending one of the strips of white hornbeam that go between the ribs as a visual contrast to the brown plumwood of the ribs.
	David Luff cutting part of the rose in the actual soundboard. Everyone cut and carved the rose so it was a completely joint effort. But the result looked very homogeneous and I would challenge anyone to say who worked on which bit. I see from the clock that it was nearly supper time and still Luke is smiling!.
	Again Julien is working on a test rose while David cuts the real one..
	Supper time is here, or rather pre-supper drinks time! We try to eat outside when the weather permits. Also joining us for dinner are Joy Gravestock and Julien’s wife Emmanuelle
	And so onwards to post-prandial wine!
	We even had occasional dinnertime serenades..
	Wine and lute music work their magic!.
	Back in the workshop Julien discusses procedure with David.
	Can you guess what we’re doing here? Smoke is rising, but it’s not a barbeque.
	We are cooking a batch of the traditional oil varnish. The smoke starts as a very pleasant pinewood smell but soon turns rather nasty and acrid as the temperature rises to 320 degrees C. It is potentially explosive too so we have to work outdoors. Nicolas is keeping his distance.
	The final test of whether it’s cooked enough is to pull a string of the viscous liquid, if you can pull it to 50 cm without breaking, it’s done. The filthy dark brown will be a beautiful golden colour in the finished varnish. Note the face mask against the later fumes.
	Finally the hot viscous liquid is strained into a tin can before diluting with pure turpentine for use. When done it keeps virtually for ever in the jar without skinning. I’m still using varnish I made in 1990.
	Julien and Nicolas working together on the upper pegbox. This is a very complex curved shape and very light and fine.
	Nick is working away at turning some of the pegs. There are 23 of these needed so it is a bit of a chore, and they do need to match each other for the instrument to look good. It is surprisingly difficult to make the same head shape as each person has their own visual habits.
	Luke playing guitar in the conservatory, surrounded by the different lute moulds. hearing music being played informally day and night was one of the pleasures of the week.
	Julien checking the surface of the joint between the two pegboxes. Lutemaking is quite a precise business.
	I think I was checking the amount of ’scallop’ planed into the edge of the ribs.
	Because it is such a complex instrument to make in a week I decided to take the risk of making the two pegboxes before the joint in the neck was cut or the neck even made at all. It was a help to have a good team this year.
	David is cleaning the finished soundboard with its bars on.but not yet trimmed to length.
	The pegboxes have to fit the curved neck surface and still the decorative moulding has to come to the edge of the fingerboard in the right place. We needed to think carefully to convert my drawing to the three D reality. Nicolas is holding a piece of the plastic material from which we cut the various pegbox templates.
	David is checking the angle of the rebate in the neck that will take the finished pegboxes. Again it is a more complex joint than usual, there are only six original 12 course lutes to model our work on and these each have slightly different solutions to the problem of strength and aesthetics at this point.
	It needs repeated careful checking and cutting and checking to get it right.
	Nick too was one of the regular serenaders. You can see the number of instruments that we heard from the cases which surround him! Alongside on the wall are some of my theorbo and baroque lute moulds.
	A trial assembly, it seems to be working out nicely and the two white lines up the neck make it look very smart.
	Luke is checking the bridge position on the finished soundboard.
	And now the soundboard with its bridge in place is taped onto the body for a trial run. We seem relieved..
	We do need to see it from above too but these kind of lutes are very unstable on their back like this, so you have to be very careful it doesn’t roll off the bench.
	Surrounded by rolls of plans and books of information, it important to take in as much information as possible.
	But it was not all work and Thea’s meals made the end of each day memorable for other reasons!
	Nick made up a workshop song adapted from a Dowland original. This was the celebration meal and we all got slightly merry, unlike our normal puritanical reserve!
	Ditto!
	Something of the tensions of the week can be seen in David’s stretch.
	The pegmaker’s work is never done. Other people did make some pegs but to be fair Nick did the lion’s share.
	David had to leave a bit early and sets off with his copy of the drawings.
	Adjusting pegs.
	David puts in the last go-bar on his soundboard bar. Everyone glued on at least one of the bars..
	Julien and David fit the endclasp while Luke takes notes..
	We had visits from several of England’s top makers, here Martin Bowers and Stephen Gottlieb offer their sardonic take on proceedings.
	Nicolas is planing the ’scallop’ into the edge of the ribs. Sometimes it is easier to hold the plane backwards and pull it towards you, like a Japanese plane.
	On Thursday evening we had a wonderful recital of 17th century Dutch and English lute music (of exactly the sort that ’our’ lute would have played) by Willem Mook the Dutch lutenist. It was such thoughtful and relaxed playing that the capacity audience went home feeling they’d had a proper musical experience. It really was a crowning point of the week.
	David prepares the finished soundboard for taping in place.
	More music, David had a very nice flamenco style which gave a lot of pleasure.
	The week is nearly over and the lute is nearly finished, it just needed to have the upper pegbox-plate covered with an ebony extension to the fingerboard. But it was finished enough for us to put a couple of strings on to hear a note or two from the nes instrument. Very exciting and satisfying.
	Julien is left-handed, as am I, so he had to try it upside down.
	Whereas Nicolas could play those two strings the right way! But difficult without frets. By this time we were all very tired.
	Nicolas stayed on for a day after the course had ended and we managed to fit the final piece, the upper pegbox plate. An awkward thing to cramp properly.
	And here is the finished instrument below an engraving of a 17th century painting of the same type of lute. The pegboxes still need to be ebonised and the back oiled. But essentially it is all done.
	A detail of the treble rider showing the quality of the work that everyone managed during the week. This is not an amateur instrument.
	A different view of the week’s work!
	The fully finished lute, varnished, strung, tuned and ready to play

To return to this years summer school and the list of past summers click here.