Welcome to JM Instruments!

Based in Hilton, Derbyshire, JM Instruments is within easy reach from the A50. Contact by phone on 01283734388 or via email; info@jminstruments.com.On this website you can choose from a variety of affordable lute sizes and hear some of them being played on videos, enjoy!

Here you will find a wide range of quality instruments at affordable prices for both beginners and more advanced players.The cheapest lute starts at £884 (Early Renaissance/childrens lute) without case, 6 courses. A 7crs student lute can be ordered for £1,167 without case, a student lute case by Kingham MTM cases can also be ordered at a slightly lower price than their usual curvaceous cases. The 14 course student theorbo based on Sellas (E.547) the latest addition to the student theorbo range and was exhibited at the Early Music Festival in Greenwich 2009, commissioned by Richard MacKenzie, for bookings visit   www.richardmackenzie.site50.net .

The Student Chitarrone for continuo based on Magno Tieffenbrucker can be seen and heard in the Chitarroni menu in the instruments page. This large student theorbo has 17 ribs of Indian Rosewood instead of 51 which helps to reduce construction time considerably, reducing the price and making it more affordable to a wider audience. The original rose design has been maintained and the soundboard has a protective ebony edging, as does the extended neck. The Student Theorbo was created to encourage more to play these large and powerfull Chitarroni at the original stringlength.

If you are a beginner the popular choice is the Student lute based on Hans Frei at £1,167 and there is a Venetian lute based on Wendlin Tieffenbrucker at an attractive price of  £1145. For admirers of  Baroque music, a fine 11-course Baroque Lute can be ordered  for  £1316, you can hear this instrument being played if you go to the Hans Frei Baroque lute record in the Student Lute menu. The student lute range aims to keep the cost of buying your first lute down by reducing the cost of woods, manufacturing time and decoration without compromising quality, just check out the student lutes section. The intention is to get more people playing and enjoying the wealth of beautiful music!

For the more advanced player is a range of instruments based on extant instruments by Maler, Burkholtzer, Tieffenbrucker, Schelle, Hoffmann, Buechenberg, Sellas, Ralich, Frei and Widhalm. The images shown as an example on each instrument record are customised instruments using the decorative extras. You can customise your instrument to a certain extent by choosing the woods, decorative extras, even string spacing (to match an instrument you already have, making the transition easier). All materials are sourced from specialist suppliers of quality soundboards and quarter-sawn kiln/air dried woods. Indian Rosewood is bought from a UK supplier cut into sawn veneers from bedposts exported from India, sourced from government owned forests selling rosewood at public auctions. Fingerboards can now be made in Bogwood as an alternative to Ebony if desired. The Bogwood has been originally sourced from farmland around The Wash in the Uk that has been cleared and drained for agriculture and not from protected peat bogs. Bogwood has a lighter colour than ebony but is still black and the grain is more noticable to the touch than ebony which is very dense.  Below is an example of a customised order, a 10crs lute based on/modelled on a lute labelled ''Matheus Buchenburg  Roma''. You can see the customised instrument being played on the Matheus Buchenburg record from the Renaissance Lute menu . Also on this instrument record you will see a left-handed version made with pearwood ribs, pegs,and bridge with a neck and pegbox in  Black Walnut and a soundboard in Alpine spruce with the soundboard edging in boxwood dyed black instead of ebony. The spacers between the ribs are also boxwood dyed black, so no ebony has been used but looks the same as a lute made with an ebony fingerboard and soundboard edging.

There is a vast resource of lute music on the web that beginners may not be aware of. The music is written in tablature which tells you where to put your fingers, the interpretation of the music is mostly up to you. Once you have become accustomed to the tablature you will soon find you can play elaborate pieces and impress your friends! A lot of these downloadable tablatures are for Renaissance lute, Baroque lute and Theorbo,  just check out the links page. Prices are reviewed in January/February, PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE THE CASE . If you are contemplating ordering please go to the How To Order section.