Patent ID: 6852916

Claim:
A lute comprising a neck, a bulging sound box tapering down to a virtual point and attached to said neck at said virtual point, a peg box at an end of said neck remote from said sound box, and strings stretched between said peg box and an end piece, said sound box including a vaulted back having a planar rim that is curved outwardly from one side of said neck in a continuous curve to the other side of said neck and a face having a longitudinal centerline and connected to said rim of said back, said face including transverse ribs on an inside surface and said end piece mounted on an outside surface in a longitudinal portion thereof corresponding to a longitudinal third of said face remote from said neck, said face having at least one aperture between said inside and outside surfaces in a longitudinal half thereof nearest said neck, wherein at least a portion of said face, including said end piece, is vaulted outward from said planar rim by at least 2 mm., wherein said face includes an area at a longitudinal end thereof remote from said neck which has a longitudinal length of approximately twice a longitudinal distance between said end piece and said remote longitudinal end of said face, and wherein said area is devoid of transverse ribs.