The "Tecchler" is a large archlute that can only be tuned at low pitch; 415 or 392. Because of this, it has been ignored by players and builders until recently. As long as early music audiences and venues were small, the early baroque archlutes which served as our models were sufficient. But performance requirements for the modern lutenist have changed because early music now includes mainstream classical audiences and venues. This scenario mirrors developments in the 18th century. As the tonal character of late baroque ensembles and orchestras became more robust, lute makers responded by building instruments such as the gallichon, the German theorbo and the large archlute.

When I expressed an interest in building a model of the Tecchler, my clients' responses were enthusiastic but guarded, knowing that the size of the instrument would present problems but relishing the opportunity to try a model of this unique instrument. I completed my prototype in 2001 and offered it on long term loan to interested clients. They toured widely with it in Europe and North America for several years experimenting with various tunings and pitches. The reports were enthusiastic and sometimes humorous. David Walker tells the story of taking the Tecchler to a rehearsal of a Bach cantata for his Early Music Ensemble class at Indiana University; "As we started a tutti section I really laid into the lute and that was when the cello player nearly fell out of his chair laughing." He was being drowned out by an archlute.

The appearance of the original archlute is striking because Tecchler used a combination of ebony, ivory and red tortoise shell throughout. A three piece spacer of ivory/ebony/ivory divides each of the 15 ebony ribs. The neck and fingerboard are veneered with tortoise shell edged with ivory and ebony. The same motif is repeated on the extension. I maintain this three color motif but I replace the tortoise shell with bloodwood and the ivory with holly.

Specifications: the fretted string length is 71 cm with diapasons of 155 cm. The 15 rib ebony bowl is approximately 36 cm wide, 18 cm deep and 53 cm to the neck joint.