Renaissance Lute, chapter 2 - The ribs

December 2011

The first main issue, as a beginner amateur lutemaker, was to find suitable wood to build the shell. I went to the local wood dealer, and they happened to have some beams of brazilian rosewood, however not enough in one single piece. It will be two separate pieces...

The seller accepted somewhat reluctantly to bandsaw the beam into 3mm slices, but I guess it must have been the first time he was asked to do such a thing. He actually asked if I didn't prefer to purchase some very thin veneering wood... No thanks, that really wouldn't do.

The planing and scraping from 3+ mm down to 1.4mm took forever... (Today I own a machine - yet unused - to do that task!)

Naturally I needed some means to measure progress.  Those commercial callipers being so expensive, I decided I could simply buy the dial and build the rest around it. Very easy. The thumb wire-handle to lift the gauge is made out of one of those coat hangers you get from the laundry. That wire is quite stiff and works perfectly...

You might see on the next picture that the set of ribs originates from two different beams... See that difference in length? I tried to arrange the sequence such that the step between the two parts would not be noticeable...

The first rib is cut, ready to be bent!

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