Stephan, I have over fifty years of playing guitar badly (never took up classical). But I'm pretty good as a traditional folk guitarist - a finger picker, not a strummer. Close to the bridge tightens the sound, makes it a bit brighter, as long as the tension is adequate. But it will do little with a soft tension. The effect comes from the initial pluck setting the overtone vibrations first, then the string takes over. Ideally one would get the mellowest tone by plucking the middle of the string (as is normal on the harp). Impractical though on guitar and lute. But without having read Segerman's article I'll not comment further (it is printing now for perusal in the morning, all 14 pages).
Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
