EMS Theorbo

EMS designed Theorbo is a type of lute dating back to the 1580's and was used to accompany the voice.It is very large instrument, it measures 67" from the base to the nut. The top peg box measures 5". It is 15 1/2" at the widest part of the body and the bowl is 7" deep. It has 14 courses of strings. 6 single, which are plucked and stopped on a fretted fingerboard like the strings of a guitar and 8 long single basses which are tuned to a scale and played only by the plucking hand.The very large size and especially the length of its bass strings mean that it has a powerful sound.There are several different tunings documented but all are 're-entrant,which means the strings are not arranged in pitch order, highest to lowest.'