The Lute Online Resources Portal (LORP): Lutes for Sale and Wanted

LUTES FOR SALE AND WANTED

Advice on buying lutes

Choosing a lute is partly a matter of deciding what historical repertoire you want to play; see lute history pages, for instance at Martin Shepherd’s site: www.luteshop.co.uk/Lute_history.html and on the Lute Society’s 'Thinking of taking up the lute page': www.lutesociety.org/pages/thinking-of-taking-up-the-lute. There is advice on buying a lutes at Martin Shepherd's website: www.luteshop.co.uk/Buying_a_lute.htm

If you are buying a lute for the first time, it is advisable to ask the advice of a teacher on the list of teachers or other experienced player, and ideally for the teacher to try the lute for you.

Lutes are quite expensive, and it is generally advisable to hire before you buy: see lutes for hire.

For those in financially straitened circumstances, there exist various grant, loan and rent-to-buy schemes, such as those listed at the Early Music Shop's Finance Options page, earlymusicshop.com/pages/finance-options or Trinity Laban's Musical Instrument Funding page: www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/study/fees-and-finance/external-funding/musical-instrument-funding/

If you are selling and do not know what price to ask, take it to one of the lute makers to ask for a valuation. Beware of online fraud: if you place an advertisement to sell a lute, and receive a response which seems vague or badly written, it may be fraudulent: contact of one the lute societies to ask advice if in doubt.

Websites listing lutes for sale

Inexpensive factory lutes, and sometimes more expensive instruments by named craftsmen, are regularly sold on:

For sale and wanted listings can be found on the websites of some of the lute societies:(alphabetical by country)

Auction houses with regular musical instrument sales

UK