Hi Martin, I took another quick look at your informative web site. >In the 1990s Mimmo Peruffo, having studied the sizes of bridge holes >in surviving lutes, came to the conclusion that the original strings >must have been of higher density than gut in order to reach a >reasonable working tension. He has experimented with "loading" the >gut with metallic salts before it is made into a string. The process >can increase the density to about twice that of untreated gut. >Support for the loading hypothesis also comes from paintings which >often show dark or even bright red bass strings. Some doubt is cast >on it by the historical references to clearness because substances >which are heavy enough to have a loading effect also tend to be >opaque. On the other hand the evidence from bridge holes is >compelling: if strings were not loaded then they must have been at a >much lower tension than we are accustomed to (according to Segerman, >down to around 13 Newtons, about half what most of us would regard >as sensible).
I am wondering about which holes Mimmo studied. As I understand it, there are very few surviving Renaissance lutes and most have been altered in some way, usually made into a Baroque 11 course, right? If he was looking at Baroque lutes or Ren lutes altered into Baroque lutes, couldn't they be late enough to bear overspun strings? What is the first evidence of overspuns? I'm not at home, but certainly by the 1680s, right? To be clear, Mimmo concluded that the holes were too small for big thick bass strings, nicht wahr? cheers, -- Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ --
