In September of 2014 David Van Edwards came from England to teach his famous Lute Making Course in the Gamut workshop. Ten aspiring lute makers came to Duluth to take the course and made most of two instruments; a seven course Renaissance lute and a thirteen course Baroque lute. Everyone participated in the course with the understanding that the instruments would be donated to the Lute Society of America Rental Program, and in 2015 the Renaissance instrument from the course was delivered to the LSA. The Baroque instrument was left with much more work to complete, so it took Brian much longer to finish, but the instrument and it is now finished and sent to the LSA program.
The instrument is modeled on the Martin hoffmann instrument in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, MI245 and features:
European spruce front
Rosewood back with holly spacers
Willow neck with ebony veneer and fingerboard
Maple head with black stain
Many thanks to all who worked on the instrument with a special thanks to David and Thea for making the long trek to Duluth to make the class possible.
Front angle
Front
Back
Front detail
Head front
Head side
Below is a gallery of details of the wonderful carving that the class did on the back of the head.
