Talk:Vulcan lute

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Has it occurred to anyone that the instrument seen in the show is a lyre, while the lute is a completely separate instrument that has not been seen? An Earth lyre is an instrument with one note per string, like a harp - while a lute has a smaller number of strings, and a fret board for playing different notes.98.215.20.162 05:01, 3 March 2008 (UTC)bill

As you say, "An Earth lyre...". :) I'm not sure where exactly "lyre" or "lytherette" come from, in this reference, but as best as I can tell, it was only ever called a "lute" in dialog, namely in "Innocence", with the rest being visual references. The only "lyre" reference was made to the Earth instrument you speak of, mentioned in "Who Mourns for Adonais?". --Alan 05:13, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

The dialog in the deleted scene from Elaan of Troyius does name the instrument Spock is playing as a lyre (of course, it also implies that none of them had ever seen it before, which could explain somewhat why it was deleted). I think it's quite obvious that the image pictured does not match the description at all (I counted several times, and it appears to have at least 28 strings on it), so it must be two separate instruments.Redshirtsquad 05:31, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Tuvok's (first picture) has 12 strings, visually, and 5 in dialog, in the aforementioned "Innocence" reference, and it was called a lute. --Alan 05:36, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I was counting the strings on the one Spock played during Charlie X Redshirtsquad 16:10, 6 March 2008 (UTC)