I'll try again, as I'm yet trying to string that "charandora". I am looking for opinions. I repeat, the O.W. (Aquila) string calculator recommends tensions in Newtons that vary for the same pitch depending on the VL. (This already takes into effect the guage, as that is the resultant. I've noted before that my 63.5 lute is happy with about 35 N on the chanterelle (disregarding the pitch, other factors there) - whereas the 36 instrument I'm working with is recommended to be 27N.
I think I've got a part of the point, the narrower distance between frets on the shorter instrument makes a higher "local" tension - but the real thing seems to be the musical sound, and it seems that a lighter guage and a lower tension makes a better sound on a shorter instrument, whereas the same tension (with appropriate guage for the pitch) would be below the musical level for a longer instrument. Any facts, or empirical observations, will be welcome. I will test it, but may have to make a resonant test board to do it (my board is solid Home Depot wood and was meant to test breaking pitches, not musicality of the string. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
