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Lutes Wanted

• 11-course lute for the French baroque repertory wanted: Should have good sustain and "singing" quality in the upper register, bass register not too loud and weighty, overall "delicacy" and intimacy of sound character preferred. Models based on converted H. Frei, L. Maler or French models (e. g. Demoulin) preferred. I am at home in Munich, Germany tinctoris@freenet.de
  April 27 2013

• I am looking for a good quality renaissance lute, preferably 7-courses. I am located in Sweden but can travel in Europe to try out/pick up instruments (and possibly other parts of the world if the price is right) Reach me at sirman_music@yahoo.com.
  April 14 2013

• Wanted: standard archlute, mainly for continuo work. It would be helpful if the instrument can comfortably be tuned to a=440. I'd prefer to try the instrument. I live in Toronto and can travel to some parts of the USA and Canada. I can be reached at benny@interlog.com.
  Benjamin Stein
  April 6 2013

• Wanted 10-course lute in G. Price range up to US$4000. I live in the
  Midwest US and will take a road trip to try the instrument.
  Taylor DiClemente
  Columbus, Ohio, USA
  taylordiclemente@gmail.com
  March 4, 2013

• I am looking for a bandora. Please contact me if you want to sell one or know someone who wants to sell one.
  Matthew Wright
  Somerville, Massachusetts, USA
  notmisterleft@gmail.com
  May 25 2011

• Wanted 10 course lute, small archlute or Liuto Attiobatto: I am a luthier specializing in reproductions of Early Romantic Guitars (19th century), an avid lute player (but I don’t make them) and I am offering to trade a reproduction Early Romantic Guitar for a 10 course Renaissance Lute.
  My preference for a 10 course lute is a larger body like Magno Tieffenbrucher, string length 64cm - 66cm. The smaller bodies like Frei I find too small so as much as I like their design I find it uncomfortable to play them.
  If you have a smaller (shorter string length basses) archlute or a Liuto Attiobatto I will seriously consider those as well.
  I am offering a choice of instruments I have in stock or to build a new instrument from my catalog list depending on the quality/condition of the lute available and what fits our mutual satisfaction. See my web site www.roseberryguitars.com to see examples of the instruments I build.
  Contact: Scot at info@roseberryguitars.com
  February 21 2011

• Want to buy a lefthanded 8-10 course lute in G tuning. Being a bass player for 35 years I want to play renaissance music again. Quit classical guitar playing in the mid 70's.
  Bjorn Swedin
  Malmo Sweden
  Mobile: 0046705211422
  December 7 2009

• Wanted - Weiss Dresden Manuscript Facsimile
  Contact Oskar, oskar_demari_jones 'at' hotmail.com 'at' = @

• I'd like to buy a theorbo. Best if I can try it. I'll drive anywhere between Washington D.C. and Boston. I'd like to find something for around $3000. I would buy one from abroad if I could be sure that the instrument is decent.
  William Anderson
  Mt. Vernon, NY 10552
  wanderso@slc.edu
  October 4 2009

Stolen Lutes

• Theorbo built by Michael Schreiner (Toronto) 1998 # 542 , after Kaiser. 85 cm/ 165 cm string lengths. 27-ribbed Indian Rosewood back. Triple Rose (inset rose, from an older top). Black Kingham case. a similar instrument is pictured here: http://www.schreinerlutes.com/theorbos_mkaiser.html. This instrument was stolen off a NJTransit train at Metropark, NJ (NEC 3801) on August 27 2008.
  please contact with any information:
  theorboy [at] gmail.com
  1.917.921.0526
  August 28 2008

• Lute stolen in New York City, on 12/7/05: 8 course tenor lute after Magno dieffopruchar by Grant Tomlinson, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  64 cm, 17 yew ribs
  Still checking for the date of construction, but before 1997.
  Any information please contact
  Robert Clair
  212 876 8024
  rclair [at] elroberto [dot] com
  December 14 2005

• AVIS DE RECHERCHE
  Disparu le 16/11/05
  dans le train vers Nivelles, Belgique (terminus 21.29u)
  Guitare Baroque
  Dos et eclisse en poirier brun-roux
  Rosette en parchemin
  Touche et filet de table en ebene
  Cheviller sculpt
  Coffre Kingham
  Exterieur noir
  Interieur rouge bordeau
  Luthier Joseph Moreau
  contact tel /fax (+32) 2 395 40 37
  e-mail: Moreaujoseph@hotmail.com
  Recompense 120 pour aide honnete.
  November 20 2005

• Stolen lute. The lute in question belongs to Marianne Buisseret, Hofstraat 247, 9000 Ghent, Belgium (tel: 00 32 9225 9576 contact email: lieven.misschaert@worldonline.be) and was recently stolen in Belgium from a lute maker's car. It was on its way to be cleaned up so it won't look as pristine as in the photographs, which were taken when it was made in 1984.
  picture
  
  7 c lute, 60 cm string length, Label: Paul Thompson 1984. Back 35 ribs of yew with ebony spacers, Neck and pegbox venerred with ebony. Pegbox sides venerred with yew.ompson 1984
  submitted by lutesoc@aol.com
  June 10 2004

• Dear friends, two instruments have been stolen in the night from the 2-3 october in Madrid:
  • an italien theorbo belonging to: Christina Pluhar (0033 (0) 143461546) made by: Klaus T. Jacobsen London 1983/99 string length: 78/160 multi-rib back black case
  • a violone belonging to: Richard Myron (0033 (0) 140409422) made by: Dominik Zuchowilz Ottawa 1996 copie Vogel (museum of Nürnberg) with two bows
  info@marcellovitale.net
  October 6 2002

  Theorbo stolen in London, July 2001. String length 85/170 cm, 14 single courses, multiribbed rosewood back, all black neck, triple rose, labelled Klaus Jacobsen, London, 1997, in black MTM case. Reward. Contact William Carter, tel. +4420 8521 3812 or email jacobsen@inwind.it
  Oct 2 2001

• The 26th of june-01, a theorbo was stolen in Barcelona, Spain, with the following caracteristics:
  • Triple rose ( see the pictures ), and, looking through them, the inside label reads : " JAUME BOSSER - OCTUBRE 2000".
  • Total length: 1m55 about.
  • Back made of 13 ribs of stained ash with rosewood strips between.
  • 14 strings and 16 pegs .
  • With its black hardcase.
  If you ever find it please contact urgently with JAUME BOSSER - tel. 34-93-8080200, mobile ++34 - 646 187157
  ana.jaume(at)bosserluthier.net
  Devolution will be generously compensated.
  June 30 2001 - still missing march 2008

• I'm writing to ask that everyone be on the lookout for a baroque guitar (5 courses) belonging to Lucas Harris in NY. It was left accidently on the Long Island Rail Road and was taken by someone on the train. It has snakewood back and sides, a red and white rose with the center part missing so you can actually see the label, which says Ivo Romano 1996, I believe. It has a vaulted back.
  contact:
  LucasH@CommonGroundEnsemble.org
  submitted by estkimo@yahoo.com June 18 2001 (still missing Sept 27 2005)

How to post an ad

• Send your postings for lutes for sale, or lutes wanted, to wbc@cs.dartmouth.edu and be sure to include your city or state (including country) so people know where the lute is, and phone number if you want people to contact you by phone. You also must include an e-mail address where I can reach you. Please send your ad in plain text format, not in html format! I generally do not reply to you unless I need more information but I try and insert and delete ads as soon as I get them. I will delete the ads after roughly one year.
• If you send pictures, try and crop them close to the instrument so people don't have to wait to download extra picture that they don't need. A 200,000 byte picture will take over thirty seconds to download on a modem connection! Be sure the pictures are in focus. Take a few moments to check in detail. Cameras focus better in bright light, so consider taking your pictures outdoors. Look at what is in the background of the picture too! You might not want your dirty laundry in the picture. It helps if the names of the pictures don't have any spaces in them. Use "baroque-lute.jpg" or "baroqueLute.jpg" instead of "baroque lute.jpg". If you take a close up picture of the rosette be sure that it is in focus.
• If you are not writing in english, please either use html characters for accents ( as é for é) or spell it out ( o with " over it, ö ) or use tex symbols ( \'a, á ) as my word processor does not recognise accents. Since I post these ads in my very hard to come by free moments, it would help me if you send the ad as "text/plain" format. If I can't read your ad I will ask you to re-submit it.
• If you want to change something, please send me the changes, not the whole ad. If you say "change the price from 4500 to 4200" or "add a line that says ..." I can quickly make the change. If you send me a new ad I have to look through the new and old versions to find the differences, and I may miss something. If I already have the pictures please don't send them again!
• I have a very hard time decoding Microsoft Word documents - please send your ad as plain text!
• Please type out the monitary units, as in "yen", "krone", "euro", or "dollars" as my computer can't read the special symbols that many people use for money. If you type in the characters ¥ you will get a ¥, and the characters € will print €. The & (ampersand) and ; (semicolon) are required. ( if your are british £ or £ {include the semicolon} will produce the £ sign.)
• I use spam filters, if you message looks a lot like spam (html format, all capital letters, etc) I may not get it. If the ad doesn't show up try sending it again using plain text, lowercase letters, and a Subject that says "lute for sale" clearly.
• If you are a professional builder you may list lutes that you currently have on hand for immediate sale. Please tell me when the instrument is sold.
• This service is free, but if you feel grateful to me for having found or sold your lute, you can send a contribution to Wayne Cripps, 6211 Sudikoff Lab., Hanover, N.H. 03755 USA. Please make checks payable to "Wayne Cripps", as the bank gets upset when I try to cash checks made out to "string fund." Foreign currencies (cash, not checks) are gladly accepted. (I seem to be collecting euros now.)
• I tend to change usage to American English without notification.
• Send any questions about the instruments listed here directly to the owners. In some cases, the owners do not have e-mail and you will have to use the phone or even write to them!
• Please be sure to tell me if you do not want me to list your complete name and address information. It is helpful if people know what country and state the instrument is in, but it might be safer to omit your street address. You should check your ad once I have inserted it. You might want to consider opening a special email account for selling your lute, as you will get mail from Nigerian criminals. It may take a year to sell your lute, and you may be getting several Nigerian Scam messages a day! You will also get a lot of mail from other people who want to take your money!

Warning! the Nigerian Fraud has hit the lute world!

Here are some signs of fraud:

• If someone wants to send a check for more than the cost of the instrument and shipping, and wants you to send cash back to them with the instrument for "tax reasons". The check will bounce and you will be out the money and your instrument. Even if the bank accepts the check, they will come after you for the money weeks later when they find it is forged.
• If someone will deliver a check by courier. In the USA mail fraud is a serious crime and thieves use FedEx and Western Union so they won't be investigated and prosecuted by the Post Service.
• Watch out for forged bank checks. If you are suspicious wait a few weeks to be sure that it clears. Talk to someone at your bank about this.
• If someone is buying a lute for somebody else as a present. Perhaps a rich uncle buying something for his nephew. Or perhaps the person is acting as an agent. How many lute players would have an agent buy a lute for them? Really! (watch out for "Mark Luke")
• If a third party, not the buyer, is supposed to send the check because he owes the buyer money.
• If someone doesn't ask the usual lute player questions about the age, condition, and string dimensions, and doesn't ask for pictures. If someone says they saw your lute and it is acceptable. If they don't even mention lutes, but just ask for information about the article you are selling.
• If someone seems to have difficulty writing the language of the country they claim to come from.
• Check the person out on google! Do they have a lute page or are there complaints about them selligng motorcycles that they don't own?
• Note also that Indonesia is known for credit card fraud. Be extremely cautious when selling something to be paid for with an Indonesian card!

  Here are some samples of letters that look extrememly suspicious ....

  Here is a letter that you can send to a prospective buyer if you have any reason to be suspicious....

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