Questions: Vihuela Plans

by Robert Lundberg

Originally published in American Lutherie #60, 1999

Roy Barger of Dayton, TN asks:

I’d like to build a vihuela. Trouble is, plans are as rare as hen’s teeth. Do you know where I could obtain a set? Or, someone who owns a representative example of one that would sympathize with my plight enough to assist in the measuring thereof?

Bob Lundberg of Portland, Oregon answers:

I do not know of any plan you can order. The one extant vihuela in the Jacquemart André Museum in Paris is not typical of most vihuelas built in the 16th century. Raphael Weisman described it in detail for the Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 35 (March 1982) in an article called “The Paris Vihuela Reconstructed.” No plan was made available. ◆

Editior’s note: You’ll find a comprehensive article on the vihuela by John Rollins in AL#10 or The Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 1985–1987.