Thread: 7 Course Renaissance Lute

So there is enough Ribs for a BQ.Martin
Cheers Bob

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Early days.....there are 12 more ribs to go. The process of making up the ribs is very similar to making staves for a barrel. The old coopers used a large plane for the purpose.

Thanks for the tip on this discussion Bob. I'm the guy in Queensland you sent the wood to. I am making a Baroque Lute but 40 years ago I made a Renaissance Lute because I wanted to play one (photo enclosed). I am a Classical Guitarist (amongst other things) and like Martin I am currently making the mould and getting the ribs ready. Cheers, Robert

wow that is a neat instrument & I can see the challenge, looks like torturous FUN

Hi Robert, Keep an eye on Martins build.
He is quite talented, but dont tell him that.
Cheers Bob

Originally Posted by zendozendo

Thanks for the tip on this discussion Bob. I'm the guy in Queensland you sent the wood to. I am making a Baroque Lute but 40 years ago I made a Renaissance Lute because I wanted to play one (photo enclosed). I am a Classical Guitarist (amongst other things) and like Martin I am currently making the mould and getting the ribs ready. Cheers, Robert

I remember doing most things (the Lute in the photo) in the wrong way eg. like soaking the ribs, made from King Billy Pine which was commonly used for fence posts at the time, in water in the bathtub. Pine I now know is a poor choice for the ribs. The Blackwood from Bob at Tonewoods will be excellent I believe. The King Billy worked anyway but the sound was rather classical guitar like. Other Luthiers are experimenting with King Billy for tops. I carved the rose piece out of three ply... certainly not traditional.. Robert

Hi Robert, thanks for the posts and comments regarding your lute build. My method follows that of David Van Andrews with input from others on various guitar building forums. If youve got the time a few pics of progress on your current build would be great.

Cheers Martin

Two ribs glued in and the third one taped in and ready for glue up. Going ok but Im discovering that theres not much leeway when shaping the ribs....they have to butt up together precisely. Luckily the wbw pufling Ive chosen to seperate the ribs is fibre and it helps fill up the odd spots where the ribs dont butt up precisely. Prior to gluing up the first rib the mold was given a coat of Ubeaut wax to prevent the ribs sticking to the mold.

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Two ribs glued in and the third one taped in and ready for glue up. Going ok but Im discovering that theres not much leeway when shaping the ribs....they have to butt up together precisely. Luckily the wbw pufling Ive chosen to seperate the ribs is fibre and it helps fill up the odd spots where the ribs dont butt up precisely. Prior to gluing up the first rib the mold was given a coat of Ubeaut wax to prevent the ribs sticking to the mold.

It looks so good Martin and I really appreciate your postings. I am going slowly with mine because I do so many other things but I am loving it. I am currently about to glue the pieces of the mould - no photo, not much to show. My back ribs are Black Wattle, a bit mottled in colour but the rib spacers will be Rosewood to contrast the lighter colour. This Lute is my first and regarded as experimental. The next will have Tassie Blackwood (from Bob) at Tonewoods. I am a musician rather that a woodworker but I manage because I'm determined. Robert

Do you think another approach might be; make one side of the rib flat, leave the other side a bit proud, then bend to the mold, then overlap an existing rib and trace the good edge onto the proud part, then trim back to the line for a good fit?

Originally Posted by contrebasse

Do you think another approach might be; make one side of the rib flat, leave the other side a bit proud, then bend to the mold, then overlap an existing rib and trace the good edge onto the proud part, then trim back to the line for a good fit?

Hi Matthew,

Unfortunately both sides of the ribs are curved and curvature changes from central to most distal rib..........the lute bowl is shaped like an egg flattened on one axis. The procedure is to bend the rib to shape and then shape each edge on an upturned plane. The central rib is shaped to fit marks on the mold. The butting side of the next rib is then rough shaped on the plane to fit the marks and then fine tuned to fit the edge of the last rib. The free side of the same rib is rough trimmed so it lies flat on a plane table and roughly fits the marks on the mold. The key to success is making sure the ribs lie flat when placed on a flat surface. The procedure is identical to the procedure used to shape barrel staves....coopers use a 54" long plane for the job.

Cheers Martin

I don't think I expressed myself very well. I meant offering a slightly oversized bent rib up to the rib glued to the mold and tracing the good edge onto the new rib with a pencil from beneath.

I see that in theory if you flatten the sides perfectly they should fit perfectly. But this is wood we're talking about.

I'm mystified how you get the pufling in there.

Matthew, that would work in theory but unfortunately its very difficult to get up under the mold and also the edge still has to be trimmed at an angle to fit the adjacent rib....this is why it has to be done on a plane with the rib already bent to final shape.

All a bit hard to explain in words.

Hi Martin, Why not do a video clip of the build, that would be interesting.
Cheers Bob.

Sorry Bob..no video recorder and if I did do a video it would be R18...when youre building a lute you tend to swear a hell of a lot.

Ive documented the build over on the ANZLF....posting pics is a bit less involved there than it is on this forum. I'll continue to put up highlight pics here .

Cheers Martin