Lutes & Early Strings

Yes, with the caveat that the lute is not an easy instrument. The right-hand finger technique, the stringing in courses (pairs of strings played simultaneously), and the gut or nylon string action are all different from the modern guitar. Players who already have classical guitar technique will find the transition to lute less steep than complete beginners. That said, Roosebeck lutes are properly set up and ship in playing condition, which means the instrument itself is not an obstacle to learning. The difficulty is in the music, not the build.

Renaissance lutes typically have six courses and a lighter, more open sound suited to the polyphonic vocal and dance music of the 1400s and 1500s. Baroque lutes have more courses, often eleven or thirteen, with extended bass strings called diapasons that provide harmonic support without being fretted. The Baroque lute is the instrument of Bach's lute suites and the solo lute repertoire of the 1600s and 1700s. Roosebeck models in the six to eight course range cover the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.

The oud is the direct ancestor of the European lute; the word lute itself derives from the Arabic al-oud. But the two instruments have developed separately for over five centuries and are now distinct. The oud is fretless, which gives access to the microtonal intervals of Arabic and Turkish maqam scales. It has eleven strings in five double courses plus a single bass, tuned in fourths rather than the lute's mix of fourths and a third. The sound is deeper and more resonant than a European lute, and the playing technique and repertoire are entirely separate traditions.

The vihuela is a Spanish Renaissance instrument that looks like a guitar but is strung and played more like a lute. It has six courses, gut strings, and a flat back, which distinguishes it from the bowl-back lute. The vihuela was the prestige instrument of sixteenth-century Spanish courts and has a surviving repertoire of fantasias, pavanas, and arrangements of vocal music. For players interested in early Spanish music, the vihuela is the historically accurate choice.

Roosebeck instruments in this range ship with nylon strings rather than gut. Gut strings are the historically accurate choice for many early music players, but they are more expensive, more sensitive to humidity and temperature, and need more frequent replacement. Nylon strings give a reasonable approximation of the gut tone and are far more practical for everyday use. Players who want to move to gut strings can do so; the instruments are built to accommodate both.