"Recently I had the privilege of closely examining the prototype Le Luth Doré® 8 course Renaissance lute shown at present on the Le Luth Doré® website, and I can say that the workmanship, woods and varnish used on this instrument are all well above that of any student lute I have seen, and up to the level of some concert lutes; it seems to be in accord with the essential principles of historic lute construction, having a beautiful 11 rib flame maple back with a satin linseed oil finish [not synthetic varnish], an excellent first quality close grained spruce table, and even a slightly curved finger board; none of these are usual on lutes of this price [if there actually were any]. The instrument appears well balanced and comes with a good set of Aquila New Nylgut strings, and its own beautiful light weight fibre-glass case. Personally, I only use gut strings [except sometimes for top strings]; I do own a 7 course Martin Haycock lute, but recently I have been almost exclusively playing my Stephen Gottlieb baroque lute, so I am not very well placed for comparing the sound of this lute; but I can say that Miguel Yisrael does achieve a very good sound with the instrument, which I might describe as round and quite solid and balanced across the registers, however probably less transparent and with a less refined treble than my well run-in £4000 [5500€] Martin Haycock lute; this could at least partly be down to the wire wound bass strings and the extra course on the LLD® 8c Luth Doré, but also, I hope, because of the extra time spent by Martin Haycock tuning his tables. However, please don't consider this a criticism of a lute which is almost three times cheaper than my Haycock, and remarkably good in all respects for the price. I would tentatively compare it to the early mass production of guitars and pianos by Yamaha. Would this lute as it is at present put European lute makers out of work? I think not, as professional lutenists will always be seeking out particular lute models best adapted to the particular music they are playing, or to their style, and which can only be achieved through personal contact with a lute maker. On the other hand, for any musician who wants to acquire a good quality off the shelf instrument rapidly: lute student [or early music school], guitarist interested in lute music, renaissance lutenist who needs a lute for a second address, this lute gives a real idea of how a concert lute might sound, and so could be an excellent option. A thank you to Le Luth Doré®! "

Anthony Hind, English amateur lutenist | Lute student of Benjamin Narvey, Paris, France