really, really close.
the lute devoloped into the greek bouzouki. that bouzouki developed into the irish bouzouki--only in name it is, which is a shame.
the difference is that the greek has a bowl back, the irish has a flat back. another difference is tuning, but that can be adjusted. as it stands, mine is in mandolin tuning, GDAE, but others, such as GDAD, DGBE, and original greek tunings could be used. but for ease of learning, I keep it as GDAE.
and I fixed my avatar, it seems.
All a man's knowledge comes from his experiences