Design based on instrument depicted in fresco in the Westminster Abbey Chapter House, London, England. The body is birdseye maple and recycled Douglas fir, the neck is maple, and the fingerboard and tailpiece are ebony. The tailpiece inlay is salvaged abalone. It is 28" x 8" x 3".

When my wife and I visited England a few years ago we signed up for a Verger-guided tour through Westminster Abbey, which allowed us access to portions of the abbey that casual visitors often miss. One of the "special" rooms we got to see was the Chapter House, in the older section of the abbey, where one of the walls is covered with 14th Century frescos. It shows many crowned and robed figures playing instruments of the period, all surrounding the heavenly host. Some of the instruments show a fair amount of detail, as you can see by clicking on the "Fresco" link on the left, and I am in the process of drawing plans and building examples of several of them. The Chapter House Medieval Fiedel is the second.

There are many different styles of medieval fiedels that are associated with different European regions. Most are shaped similar to my Chapter House Fiedel, and a few are oval shaped. Some fiedels are known to have had tied gut frets, like viola da gambas, and others were fretless. Most luthiers base their reproductions on the highly realistic Flemish paintings of the period. My reproduction is similar to that in an anonymous painting in the Munich Alte Pinakothek called "The Coronation of the Virgin," from around 1470, except mine is from my own photograph of the Westminster Abbey Chapter House fresco.