I have a Widhalm that does have fan-barring and a soundboard carefully thicknessed as the original (assuming that the original has not been altered over the years). It also has a bass extension based on the 1764 Martin Brunner which is very similar to the Jauch extension. This pegbox, as you all know, helps with the transition of sound for the basses. This lute is much louder than my Burkholzer, but its also a bit bigger. I am still experimenting with strings, and was thinking of trying gut soon.
--Sterling ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Had this been the case, I presume that Grant Tomlinson would have built Benjamin's Widham fan-barred from the outset. Also we have examples of Railich and Rauwolf lutes today, that are not swannecked yet apparently work better with fan-barring. I believe, but I may be mistaken that Stephen Gottlieb builds even 8c Railich with fan-barring. This may be historically incorrect (according to your position), but if it is the case, I would think this means that there are at least two schools of thought on the question. It is true that I am not a lute-maker, just an avid reader on the topic, and as a phoentician used to formulate hypotheses so as to allow them to be tested. It is quite possible that this is not a good way to reason in terms of lute making, in which case of course, I withdraw my remarks. Best wishes Anthony > -- > Mathias > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
