Description of the Baroque Lute

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Foti Lycouridis, and on behalf of Expert Village, I will talk to you about the baroque lute. Let's go into the description of the instrument. There are four main parts to the lute. One is the peg box where the strings come and get tied. On the baroque lute, there are pegs just like a violin, and there is also one little part here where the very top string gets tied to; this is called the chanterelle. There is also the base-rider that the lowest two strings get tied onto. Then we will move to the neck. The neck is made out of two pieces of wood. The back of the neck, then there is another piece on the front-- a veneered piece of wood that becomes the fingerboard. You will also notice that there are no actually frets on the lute, but the frets are made out of this string that is actually tied onto the neck, and you can move these around for better intonation. Then, we come to the top of the instrument that is usually made of European spruce, and you will see here a very intricate and beautiful rosette. The rosette is very typical of woods and it is usually even the signature of the lute maker at the time. The back itself is made out of several pieces of wood that are bent on a form to make this form. There are hard pieces of wood, and in between them there are softer pieces of wood. Usually the back is made from ewe, maple, or rosewood. This particular lute is made out of Brazilian rosewood."