CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@mybirdcards The one in that kid's film that goes "Mate! Mate! Mate!"

@mybirdcards Pelican!

@Gaolaitch Then you'd be correct! That'd be tuned in E or F (my standard models are 56cm scale length for tuning in G or A). The strings do look a bit thick in your picture, and there do seem to be more wound ones that I would use on my lutes. With them being thicker and there being 3 unwound courses, I wonder if someone put guitar strings on it at some point.

@Gaolaitch What's the scale length? I can then give you a rough idea of the tuning.

@Gaolaitch I wondered if the lute society had any similar lutes on their hire page and found an almost exact match!

"no. 56: 7 course Harwood and Isaacs kit lute, grade B"

https://www.lutesociety.org/pages/hire-lutes

So, yes a kit lute from the 60's/70's. I looked up the brand name, and a lot of them have that same rose design, as well as the other things I mentioned typical of that era. Many of the ones I saw are in far worse condition, but they don't always hold up well.

@Gaolaitch Wonderful! Not every day a lute ends up in a charity shop!

This looks like one of the lutes that was built in the 60s and 70s, sometimes from kits. The bridge, rose design and open pegbox point towards this. It does look in pretty good and playable condition from what I can see though (can't know for sure without seeing it IRL).

It definately still has value! How much exactly really depends on the playability.

@mybirdcards Interesting. Thanks for being transparent and open about it.

@mybirdcards "Source: Gemini 3 (Edited)". Does this mean it's AI?