Lutes

Candelas Guitars builds many kinds of instruments, including a guitar lute. This is a handcrafted 12-stringed guitar lute custom made with cedar tops, mahogany necks, and offers Indian rosewood and maple strips on the back belly. The bridge is made of rosewood. All guitar lutes feature ebony fretboards.

George Stevens is a UK lute maker specializing in the early musical instruments of the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods. His lute models are built after the designs of Gerle, Hieber, Venere and Frei. Models include 6, 7 or 8 course lutes, a treble lute, and 9, 10 or 11 course lutes. Tenor and bass lute designs are also available. Other instruments by George Stevens include gitterns, gothic harps, Bray harps, clarsachs, lap harps, citterns, vihuelas, and a 4 course guitar.

Stephen Gottlieb has been a maker of renaissance and baroque lutes, and archlutes for over 30 years, building all types of renaissance and baroque instruments from plain and unadorned to highly decorated. His renaissance lute comes in 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 course designs. Baroque lute models come in 11, 12 and 13 course configurations.

Stephen Murphy has been making lutes in Mollans sur Ouvèze in the north of Provence since 1977. Stephen's lute offerings include a renaissance lute, a baroque lute, archlutes and theorboes. The top of each lute is made of spruce, the type of wood also used for the violin family and the guitar.

Michael Schreiner builds a small number of lutes and period guitars each year. He offers various lute styles including baroque, renaissance, theorbos, 10 course lutes and archlutes. Michael's renaissance lute is modeled after Georg Gerle. The original lute was built with 11 ivory ribs separated by dark spacers. Michael has replicated this aesthetic on his renaissance lute by using blustered maple in place of ivory.

JM Instruments offers a variety of lutes, including baroque, renaissance and student lute models. Their least expensive lute is a seven course style. An eight course student lute can also be ordered. For the more advanced player is a range of renaissance lutes carefully reproduced from originals by Maler, Burkholtzer, Tieffenbrucker, Schelle, Hoffmann, Buchenberg, Sellas, Ralich, Frei and Widhalm.

Stephen Barber and Sandi Harris are lute makers building a range of renaissance and baroque lutes, along with archlutes, theorbos and a chitarroni. They also specialize in building baroque and renaissance guitar models and vihuelas.

Malcolm Prior is a lute maker located in Norwich England. Malcolm offers many models of 6 to 13 course lutes. As an example, his 6 course lutes come in a Venetian style, and others are modeled after Gerle, Frei, and Maler (a bass lute). String lengths vary from 590 mm to 780 mm. Malcolm Prior also builds two baroque lute models, as well as archlutes and theorboes.

Daniel Larson makes a variety of renaissance and baroque lute models, as well as a few baroque guitar models and vihuelas. Renaissance lute offerings include a Hieber model, a Venere model, a Frei model, and a Fantasia and Recercar renaissance lute. Baroque lutes include a Frei model, a Berkholtzer model and a Hoffmann model. Daniel also builds a Spanish guitar and a Dias renaissance guitar.

Wardsworth Lutes, based in Worcester, England, is a lute and early guitar maker. New rose drawings and a booklet on making guitar roses are in production. Lute offerings include 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 course designs. A 4 course renaissance guitar is offered as well.

Paolo Busato is a maker of renaissance and baroque lutes, archlutes, theorboes and a guitar in the baroque style. His renaissance lute designs are modeled after Gerle, Frei, Duiffopruchar, Venere, Harton, and Tieffenbrucker. Paolo also offers a renaissance bass lute.

David Van Edwards offers over 50 standard lute types and custom built instruments. Styles offered include medieval, renaissance and baroque lutes. Other instruments include mandoras, theorbos, attiorbatos, archlutes and others. Renaissance lute models offered include octave, treble, G, F, and bass lutes.

Jiri Cepelak is a lute maker offering a variety of styles to choose from, including lutes modeled after Venere, Burkholtzer, Messt, Sellas, Frei, Hoffmann, Edlinger, Tieffenbrucker, Schelle, Widhalm and Koch.

Grant Tomlinson is a lute maker specializing in the renaissance and baroque styles. Grant started learning how to make lutes in 1975. His lute designs are offered in six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven and thirteen courses. 

Located in the UK, Arthur Robb makes lutes and guitars. He specializes in the renaissance style of lute building and offers lute and guitar repair and restoration.

Marcello Armand-Pilon is a lute maker who also builds archlutes, theorboes and a baroque guitar model. Marcellos's instruments are built upon original historical models surviving in museums and collections. Lutes are offered in 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13 courses.

Martin Shepherd is a lutenist and a lute maker. His website is constantly updated with lutes for sale and includes sections like "piece of the month", a lute catalog, selecting a lute, a brief history of the lute, lute strings, tuning and temperament, octave stringing and more.

Ken Brodkey offers many lute styles, including renaissance and baroque lutes, archlutes and theorbos. Ken built his first lute in 1976.