Lutes
Lutes are any plucked or bowed chordophone, whereby strings are attached to a long neck that extends to or into a sound box that serves as a resonator to the vibrating strings. Lutes may be subdivided into those with skin and those with wood bellies. Each are distinctive in both sound and structure, i.e., guitar vs banjo. Another subdivision concerns the shape of the instrument; for example the guitar has a flat back, while the lute proper has a round back. The lutes in the Europe & United States Gallery (only) will be grouped by the following:
Violin Family
Banjos
Guitars
Hurdy-Gurdy
Mandolins
Miscellaneous Lutes
