Fran Driver, age 16, of Harrisburg, Pa., for her question:

IS THE LUTE AN OLD INSTRUMENT?

The lute is a stringed instrument that was widely played in the 14th to the 18th centuries.  It developed its classical form by about 1500.

The lute has a flat belly, or sounding board, and a deep, extremely lightweight, pear shaped body made by bending narrow strips of wood (ribs) and gluing them side-by-side.

Tied onto the neck and fingerboard are seven to 10 gut frets. Six pairs (double courses) of strings run from tuning pegs (set in a peg box that angles sharply back from the neck) to a bridge glued to the belly.

Above the bridge is a rounded sound hole filled with an intricate carving, or rose'. The player's right hand fingers pluck the strings, which are stopped (altered in pitch) by the left hand fingers.

About 1600, with the coming of the Baroque era, the lute acquired additional bass strings.

The modern short necked lute developed from the short necked lute that had appeared in the Middle East by about 700 B.C. The shallow bodied, long necked lutes were known in Mesopotamia by about 2000 B.C.