Description
Biffin 11 string hybrid lute-guitar
Cedar top
Rosewood back & sides
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Tony Elder / Steve Jackson
Black Dot Music
Est 1985
Peter Biffin is one of Australia’s leading instrument makers, maintaining an international presence at the highest level for the last thirty years.
Biffin 11 string hybrid lute-guitar
- Cedar top, balsa/carbon fibre lattice bracing. Rosewood back & sides. Powerful guitar.
- Bevelled arm rest
- 7 strings on the fingerboard, 4 free basses
- Originally designed to be strung with the 7 strings at EADgbea (like a standard 6 plus high a) and 4 free basses
- With string recalibration can also be strung for use in baroque lute or archlute tuning.
- It’s currently strung as an archlute at 415Hz (i.e. semitone down; 7 strings at FGCFadg low-high with descending free basses).
About Peter Biffin
Peter Biffin is a world-renowned Australian master luthier (stringed instrument maker), musician, and innovator who has been active since the early 1970s. Based on the outskirts of Armidale, New South Wales, Biffin is internationally celebrated for blending traditional instrument craftsmanship with radical design innovations. He is most famous for creating entirely new hybrid stringed instruments that bridge Eastern and Western musical traditions.
Invention of the Tarhu
Biffin’s crowning achievement as an inventor is the Tarhu (or tarhou), a revolutionary type of spike fiddle he created in the 1980s.
- The Design: Inspired by the Turkish tanbur and Chinese erhu, it features a long, slender neck and a small body typically crafted from Australian Blackwood.
- The Innovation: The Tarhu utilizes a unique internal wooden cone mechanism—developed from design principles Biffin explored while collaborating with legendary guitar maker Greg Smallman in the late 1970s.
- Versatility: It can be both bowed and plucked, accommodating complex microtonal systems (such as Just Intonation and Middle Eastern modal music). The instrument has been championed globally by prominent musicians like Ross Daly and sound artist Ros Bandt.
Master Craftsmanship & Historical Instruments
Alongside his experimental creations, Biffin is an expert builder of traditional Western early music and historical instruments. He has become a passionate advocate for utilizing native Australian tonewoods in their construction. His highly coveted instruments include:
- Early Guitars & Vihuelas: Highly prized Baroque guitars and renaissance vihuelas.
- Lutes & Theorbos: Rare, master-level lutes and theorbos played by leading international concert artists across Europe and the Americas.
- Custom Acoustic Guitars: Unique custom builds dating back to his early career in the mid-1970s, including distinct 12-string guitars equipped with secondary sympathetic strings.
Performance and Composition
Biffin is also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. His work frequently navigates what he playfully calls “country and eastern” music—fusing his rural Australian upbringing with decades of studying Middle Eastern and Central Asian classical styles.
He performed internationally with the David Hykes Trio across the US, France, and Mexico. Locally, he forms half of the musical duo Nardoo alongside prominent Australian recorder player Zana Clarke. Together, they perform original, melody-driven compositions combining Clarke’s recorders with Biffin’s custom instruments, including the Tarhu and his original plucked design, the Deboosh. He also assists in the daily operations and instrument repairs for the Australian recorder specialty house, Orpheus Music.
