Archlute

Archlute (Fr.: archiluth; Ger.: Erzlaute; It.: arciliuto), a large bass lute created in the 16th c. to meet the lutanist's need for additional bass strings. As the reach of his hand was limited, the fingerboard could not be widened indefinitely, and therefore a number of open bass strings were placed off-board and secured to a separate pegbox. Their tuning varied according to the requirements of the piece to be played. The archlute assumed 3 forms: those of chitarrone, theorbo, and…