I’ve always been intrigued by the Renaissance-era lute, but learning to play something with seven or eight courses of strings is beyond my grasp. Then I recently stumbled on this instrument. It is essentially a small four-course lute with the strings tuned to the familiar GCEA of a ukulele.

One of the instantly eye-catching features is the intricate pattern of the sound hole. The strings are nylon and those in the center are doubled as they would be on a regular lute. The frets are also made of nylon strings, tied tightly around the neck and secured in position by notches (you can see the knots against the shadow below the neck).

I’ll show off another view of this unique instrument next week.