First lutes
Curt Sachs defined the word lute in the terminology section of The History of Musical Instruments as "composed of a body, and of a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of

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The words lute and oud possibly derive from Arabic al-ʿoud (العود - literally means "the wood"). It may refer to the wooden plectrum traditionally used for playing the oud, to the thin strips of

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Soundboard
Lutes are made almost entirely of wood. The soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant

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Lutes were in widespread use in Europe at least since the 13th century, and documents mention numerous early performers and composers. However, the earliest surviving lute

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The revival of lute-playing in the 20th century has its roots in the pioneering work of Arnold Dolmetsch (1858–1940); whose research into

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Lutes were made in a large variety of sizes, with varying numbers of strings/courses, and with no permanent standard for tuning. However, the following seems to have been generally true of the Renaissance lute.
A 6-course Renaissance

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The lute enjoyed a revival with the awakening of interest in historical music around 1900 and throughout the century. That revival was further

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