Why I buy this one ?
- The Ultimate Fretted Tuning Chart with CD (shipped separately)
- "Learning To Play the Lute" book by DeGroodt.
- Shipping insurance included.
- Hard case included.
- Brand New!

ultimatelanguageworld from TX, United States offers this stuff for:

Price : $494.25 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Andreas, Inc offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $494.25 Usually ships in 2-3 business days

What our customer's say!

"An Inexpensive Wonder", I ordered this EMS Pakistani lute with fear and trembling--I had read so many negative things on-line about the Pakistani lute.

When it arrived, it was covered with MidEast Music tape, so I knew that was the original importer. I opened up the custom-made box, removed the identicaly shaped instrument case and opened it. Inside was a beautiful 8-course Renaissance lute. I reached in and lifted it out, and immediately noted the lightness of the instrument. From the on-line reviews, I expected it to weigh 5 or 10 pounds, but this was not so. It was lighter than my guitar.

I had recently seen a digital photo of a slightly damaged instrument from Mid-East music which had no beards on the joint between neck and body. But mine had beards.

Having read on-line reviews about the EMS Pakistani lute stating that all of the wood was too thick and the instrument was too heavy, I was anxious to begin plucking. I was surprised at the rich, resonant voice. The soundboard worked wonderfully. I do not think it is too thick.

I had one problem. The 4th course had wound strings, and the tension was too much for the tuning pegs. They could not hold it, even after I treated them with black artist's pastel. I then swapped them with the high-octave nylon strings on the 7th and 8th course, and all was better. The metal-wound strings definitely made the 7th and 8th courses sound better. The nylon strings on the 4th course are a little loose and cause some fret buzz. I might replace them sometime with some strings a bit fatter that need slightly higher tension.

I had also read that the frets on this lute were tied with Nylon which has too much tendency to slip. This was true. When I get a chance, I intend to replace mine with fret gut.

Overall, I am very pleased with this Lute. Because of the alternating light-and-dark staves on the back also separated by white spacers, it has one of the most beautiful backs I have seen. I am playing, and making music, every week with slightly increasing complexity.

This instrument is more complicated than the guitar. It has 15 strings instead of 6. It is double strung. It feels different to the fingers of the left hand to compress two strings rather than one. It feels different to the fingers of the right hand to pluck two strings rather than one. Renaissance right hand technique is different, but simpler. One course is tuned differently from the guitar, which throws off all the chord patterns. If you are a guitar player, it is a bit like starting all over.

The little book included by De Groot is great. It explains the fundamentals, and is so simple that I could play the pieces almost on sight. It introduced French tablature for lute in the simplest possible manner.

Another item that arrived a few days later, a Mel Bay Ultimate Tuning Guide for Fretted Instruments, had absolutely nothing to do with the Renainssance lute. They should omit that.

I am very pleased with my EMS lute. It is beautiful to the eye. I find it technicaly feasible to play. Although I have no previous experience with the lute, I think it is not a bad instrument. I am looking forward, with practice, to getting good.

"Waste", I bought this lute thinking that I would get a bargain for a tight budget. I knew the instrument wouldn't be phenomenal, but I expected to at least start playing a lute. I was wrong.

The instrument shipped completely unplayable. Even after replacing the awful strings and nylon frets with real gut ones, no music could be made. The pegs are almost unusable (I had to use PLIERS to turn some of them and other slipped no matter what), the neck was uneven and without "relief" which caused string buzzing galore, and the ebony nut looked like it was cut with a hack saw, making precise tuning completely impossible. The soundboard, though of decent quality spruce, is incredibly thick (making a very dull sound).

Unless you have time and more money to burn and know what you are doing, this instrument is totally unsalvageable. I implore you: do not waste your money! Save up for a used, professionally made lute if you want a bargain. The lute is simply to delicate and complex an instrument to be cheaply made like a guitar.

"almost perfect", I bought this Lute a year ago and I say it is the best affordable Lute around.What I would like to have seen with this Lute is a nut on the head so that it could be carried around with a shoulder strap. I also had a problem with the 1st single (g string) and the 4th bass(C) breaking which I solved by getting and A string single from an alto Lute which doesn't sound that much different and I did a slow progression in tension on the bass C string which actually eliminated the problem completely. The instrument was nicely packed and shipped, there was a stapled box wrapped around the case with bubble wrap and Styrofoam guarding the instrument with slackened strings. This was a great buy.