francis
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Bridge and pickguard inversion?
Hi,
A friend took this picture of a laouto ( may be ) in Venice....I really don't know any reason to set bridge and pickguard like this.
Any opinion guys?
Francis
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francis
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better like this?
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suz_i_dil
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an error and also horror of restoration?
very strange indeed and never seen a string instrument with the bridge at the middle of the soundboard like this...and I guess there is a good reason
for this. May it have been an experiment with the pickguard there just in an aesthetical purpose?
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Peyman
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It looks like the bridge might have been moved up, probably to shorten the scale length and the pickguard wasn't moved. It does look strange.
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DaveH
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1800 is after lutes had passed from common usage, though they hadn't completely died out, and I believe Schubert composed some pieces for some sort of
lute. It's not a style that really fits with lutes from the 18th century either. Notice also that it appears to have only 6 strings (ie single courses
- can you confirm this Francis from the pegbox?).
I may be wrong but it looks to me like a lute guitar, which were popular in a "retro" kind of way in the 19th C - perhaps made in or before 1800 but
refitted in guitar style later on in the 19th century. As Peyman says, it looks like the bridge was moved forward and my guess is that the "pickguard"
was put over the ugly scar left by the bridge removal.
Another possibility is that it was made in a "retro" style, madeas an inaccurate recreation of renaissance instruments for 19thC tastes and playing
styles. But then why the "pickguard"?
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Sazi
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Definitely not original! Laouto have 4 pairs of strings, this one has 6 pairs. As suggested by Dave, the instrument was probably modified into some
kind of guitar/lute by a luthier (lute maker) as the bridge is very lute-like and is in a similar position on the soundboard as a guitar (usually
around the widest position).
Museums are full of abominations like this.
All I can say is don't try this at home folks!
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fhalaw
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Maybe the maker is dyslexic 
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fernandraynaud
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Dyslexic?
Who thought the origin of the word Oud was Duh!
The frets on the soundboard either "work" or don't, so the bridge can't readily be moved THAT much. The fact that NOTHING would readily rest on that
"pick-guard", suggests an extra-terrestrial or one really foobar post-traumatic musician commissioned this axe!
Speaking of museums, I was at the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City and watching a school group being guided through the "evolution of man"
display. The teacher pointed out, and the children drew, the features of the Cro Magnon and the Neanderthal skulls, but as I neared and looked closely
it turned out that someone, probably an ignorant member of a cleaning crew, had switched them. As the children marched out, two by two, I was left
smiling, wondering how long ago this accident had occurred, and how many generations of teachers and children have been learning about our
de-evolution and the progressive thickening of our brow arches! The thought that it might have been done on purpose was not far behind. 
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jdowning
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It is an oud that has been modified to a 'guitar-lute' probably - as already proposed - by switching the positions of the bridge and pick guard and
fitting metal frets to the fingerboard. Fret 12 is likely that at the neck joint hence the shorter string length using the original neck length of the
oud without modification. The bridge is a replacement drilled for six single strings (?)
The 'guitar-lute' craze in Germany occurred around the 1850's when many original lutes were vandalised by being converted into these instruments.
These were often sold as original lutes to unsuspecting collectors and museums at a time when little was known about the lute and its history. A bit
surprising that this museum still displays the instrument.
There were also lots of instrument forgeries during the 19th C (the Francolini organisation) that found their way into museum collections - put
together from bits and pieces taken at random from original instruments.
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DaveH
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Yes, just after I posted that I realised it must have been an oud - the beard and the separate rosette. I should really look a bit closed before
posting. It seems unlikely that it was really build in 1800, doesn't it?
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jdowning
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Perhaps there is a dated label inside that the Museum took at face value (labels are easily faked)?
If the oud was made in the year 1800 then this would be one of the earliest surviving examples of an oud. Apart from the 'modifications' it does
appear from the image to be very well preserved for an instrument over two centuries old.
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