A theorbo of mine to be auctioned at Sothebys

I just found out that a theorbo I made for Gunther Schuller at the New England Conservatory of Music will be auctioned at Sothebys next month(I think). This composer died in 2009. He was president of the Conservatory for some years.

The theorbo ,otherwise called an arch lute,is a complicated instrument to play. It has many extra bass strings that are plucked open to add to the bass line of the music being played on the fretted portion of the instrument.

The neck is canted at an angle in order to make the bridge at least NEARLY in the center of the soundboard. This was a fun instrument to build! I only have the picture shown. IIRC,I made the back of the body from maple
As was customary for theorbos(in many cases) the neck was painted black. I think I had
made the neck and the extended peg box from pearwood,for lightness. Otherwise,the instrument would always want to roll downwards. Especially with the rounded body.

I made the unstained tuning pegs from pearwood as well.

Beautiful work! Did you pierce that soundhole (??) by hand? My hand aches just thinking about that!

Matt

George,
While I'm not surprised, I am impressed. You should be very proud. Thanks for sharing!
Evan

I love seeing pictures of your work, Awesome as usual, thanks for posting.

I'm guessing the Sothebys sale price will be a bit taller than yours.

Very beautiful.

It blows me away. I can't conceive doing work of that quality.

I don't think I'll bid on it. Let someone who is an active player enjoy it. With my right hand thumb joint worn out from finger style picking,I haven't played much at all for about 10 years. It is too painful. And,I keep putting off the surgery because it is a painful surgery and you have your hand in a cast for several weeks. I would not be able to cut my own food,or much anything else for a long time.

The theorbo sold for $2337.00. I think that is o.k.,because there simply are NOT a lot of theorbo players out there. Most lute players play LUTES. Theorbos are harder to play with all the extra bass strings,as well as being much more problematic to keep in tune!

I hope whoever got it is a player who will also take good care of it for the next generation.

Thanks for the update, I was curious what it was going to bring. I don't know instruments but I think they got a bargain, beautiful piece!

I certainly would not make another for that price!! Unless I wanted to work for less than .25 an hour.:) It didn't matter in the museum. I never charged what it really cost to build an instrument. We were there to demonstrate the trade,not to make instruments for sale.