Thomann Arch Lute / Arciliuto

First of all, the word "theorbo" is very inapropriate to use in the description of the instrument. The Theorbo is a renaissance instrument with longer bass neck, single-string courses, and a lower tuning.

Archlute is an early baroque instrument developed as a combination between the renaissance lute and the theorbo for the sake of having the high range and the double-string courses of the lute but also the bass strings of the theorbo.

Overall, the instrument is nice but I was quite disappointed about how the nuts are made. High strings kept breaking and when you buy high quality gut strings which are quite expensive, it becomes a problem. I had to refile and sand the string slots myself and I find this unacceptable for an instrument in such a price range.

The peg box for the bass strings is too small and the pegs are hard to rotate, also it's very narrow and some strings are extremely difficult to tie to the pegs. In addition, the entire peg box is designed in such a way that it has a big vertical offset from the string natural direction so the nut there has to redirect some of the strings by a 45º to the right side which causes unnecessary friction to the top edge of the peg box and the lower strings to pop out of the slot very easily.

Nevertheless, if we ingore that, the archlute sounds quite nice and it's comfortable to play once you fix the nuts, set it all up properly and put gut strings in there. Just an important notice that this instrument should be tuned to A = 415 Hz (baroque tuning) because on such a scale length (67 cm on the short strings) it's impossible to tune the 1st string to g according to A = 440 Hz.

This is my first lute, so I had it inspected by a professional lute builder (40+ years of experience, built instruments for and hung out with all the big names in the lute world) and he was very pleasantly surprised by the build quality, sound and playability of the instrument.

I have replaced the strings with Aquila Nylgut, and I have replaced the frets with gut frets, which made it sound a lot better than the nylon strings which came with the instrument.

We also modified some things, but be careful since this probably void the warranty. We have drilled new holes into the first, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth string pegs which allows for winding the strings outside their respective peg boxes. This way the strings travel in a straighter line and it’s easier to tune the instrument. We have also shifted the strings on the extension neck by filing two extra string slots to the right on the wooden nut (the nineteenth string sits in the slot of the seventeenth now, 18th in the 16th etc.), which also allows for straighter string travel, and also the strings do not rub against each other or against wood inside the pegbox.

Even without the mods it’s a great instrument, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I have used the archlute for four weeks now and I feel it is right to submit a review. Firstly, I wish to thank the other reviewers who helped me decide whether this was worth the risk with their highly detailed and knowledgeable observations.
Things didn’t start well. The peg for the 14th course was stuck fast, and to make matters worse whilst applying gentle pressure part of the upper peg actually broke away which must have been because it had been forced in and damaged prior to purchase.
I brought the rest of the nylon strings up to pitch (415) to get a first impression. I was not surprised, but the instrument was totally unplayable as the individual string tensions were wildly different. I removed all the strings and was able to remove the stuck peg, which I glued back together.
I ordered some Aquila nylgut strings according to an online string calculator and strung the lower pegbox first to see how things might come together. The pegs were nicely seated and I was pleased to see the sound was quite clean even up to the “dusty end”. I have a small amount of fret buzz on the 6th course but that can be overcome by technique.
So I ordered some Aquila loaded bases for the diapasons and in order to fit them I had to carefully increase some of the string hole diameters on the bridge. I also decided to run courses 11-14 outside of the tiny upper pegbox by carefully drilling holes in the pegs. I also did this on 1st course. (I swapped mended peg 14 for peg 8 which was the same size thankfully). I had to carefully file the nut to receive the strings and after a bit more TLC it has settled down nicely.
I did not change the nylon frets because the higher notes all sound clear and fret well. The archlute sounds good and plays nicely with my alterations and represents very good value for money if you are prepared to take a moderate risk.
The gig bag is a nice freebie, (a proper case would cost as much as the archlute!) but I strengthened the upper part with a lining of cardboard and padding on three sides to protect the upper pegbox and the diapasons.

Sound: the sound is clear and of good quality. Since it's a small sized theorbo, it doesn't go as loud as other bigger instruments of the same kind, but the sound is very good nonetheless.

Quality: the overall quality is very good, even though you can see that the manufacturer has been quite scarce on the glue, especially on the 2nd neck. That being said, it's not a problem and the instrument is very playable out of the box (providing you spent two hours tuning it but that's just because it's a theorbo).

The strings aren't that good, they do an honest job but providing yourself with a new set of strings makes the instrument sound 10 times better. They are also quite close to each other, which can sometimes be a tad bit confusing, but once you get used to it it's not much of a problem.

Overall, very happy with the product, even though it's far from perfect, it's still amazingly good considering how cheap its price is. It especially shines when playing solo repertoire, due to the size and shape of it. Great product for beginners and budget-friendly buyers.