There are only a handful of lute makers in Canada — and four reside in British Columbia. Grant Tomlinson and Travis Carey are two of them, and they work side-by-side in a Vancouver workshop.

When Joseph Mayes heard the lute, it was love at first note. The Collingswood resident was studying with guitar master Andrés Segovia in Spain in 1968 when the music coming from the pear-shaped ...