Andrew T Brown  Luthier

The instruments on this page represent the skills learned during 12 years of attendance on the Musical Instrument Making short course at West Dean College.

HURDY GURDY

This Hurdy Gurdy was largely made during two sessions on the Musical Instrument Making short course at West Dean College. The instrument is based on an original French instrument made by J.N.Lambert in Paris in 1781. The plans for the instrument were prepared and researched by the course tutors, Andrew Butterworth and Geoff Bowers.

The body, head, key box and wheel cover of the instrument are made from sycamore. The key box lid and other 'dark wood' veneers are made from Indian Rosewood.

VIOLIN

The Violin is based on an instrument made by Guarneri del Gesu (1698 - 1744).

Four sessions of the Musical Instrument Making short course at West Dean College were spent on the instrument. The work has been carried out under the guidance of Tony and Louise Padday.

The instrument is almost complete. All that remains is final scraping and sanding before varnishing and setting up.

LUTE

Two  sessions of the Musical Instrument Making short course at West Dean College were spent on the instrument. The work was been carried out under the tuition of  Zachary Taylor. The text book for this course element was "Make and Play a Lute" by Zachary Taylor.

The construction is also described in "Making Early Stringed Instruments" by Zachary Taylor (Stobart Davies Ltd.,  ISBN 0-85442-051-7).

The instrument is almost complete. All that remains is the addition of a finger board before final scraping/sanding, varnishing and setting up.

Other Instruments