Marion,
I don't know about your guitar, but every lute
I've played is about 50% lighter than any guitar I've
ever played. Even with wooden pegs, the pegbox is
already by far the heaviest component of the lute.
The prospect of adding any more weight makes my back
sore just thinking of it.
It is perhaps not unrelated, but when I took
violin lessons, the first thing my teacher told me to
do was remove the fine tuners from my instrument,
claiming that it effected the tone. My ear wasn't
exactly accustomed to the minutae of violin tone at
the time, (probably a good thing to spare me from the
full impact of the wretched tone I managed to produce)
but it did seem to me that the sound improved. Not
only that, but since I didn't rely on the fine tuners
as a crutch, I eventually became able to tune much
faster and just as accurately.
Chris
--- "Dr. Marion Ceruti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Chris,
>
> I see no disadvantage with the very slight added
> weight
> My 11-string guitar has 11 metal tuning machines and
> I have
> no trouble holding it for long periods of time. In
> any case,
> you could always get a strap or a piece of silk if
> it became
> a problem. It is a very small price to pay for great
> efficiency,
> linearity in pitch vs. angle, and exactness of pitch
> without a
> big hassle and worry about environmental changes.
>
> As for bowed strings, I don't know about your
> violins,
> but mine have small machine tuners at the loop end
> of
> the strings. You can install them very easily and
> coarse
> tune with the pegs. To get the fine tuning, you use
> the
> machines. The fact that these machine tuners are
> readily available is proof positive that the pegs
> don't
> work very well at all, especially for the short
> diapasons of violins.
>
> If lutes had them we would not have so much trouble
> tuning. However, we all are in this long-term
> worship service of historical accuracy and no one
> would dare modify anything on a lute if it looked
> modern just to be efficient.
>
> It might be pointed out that the design of the lutes
> that
> we use today was the state of the art during the
> 16th
> and 17h centuries, for example. Modern luthiers have
> copied, this design with no attempt to update it,
> all out of
> concern for historical accuracy. If the luthiers of
> the 16th
> and 17th century had had access to better
> technology, they
> would have had the practical wisdom to used it.
> Modern luthiers will make anything we order. We
> order
> the old designs, then we pay for it in terms of time
> wasted on tuning when we could be composing or
> sending email messages to our lute friends all
> across
> the world.
>
> Best regards,
> Marion
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Apr 4, 2005 2:15 PM
> To: "Dr. Marion Ceruti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Vance Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> lute list <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>, Caroline Usher
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: Newbie Question #2
>
> Marion,
>
>
> I see an advantage to pegs: weight! I can't
> imaging how much the pegbox of a 13-course baroque
> lute would weigh with metal tuning machines. My
> ten-course was a real balancing act when I got it
> without having to deal with even more uneven weight
> distribution. Also, pegs seem to work pretty well
> for
> modern bowed strings with metal strings and high
> tension (with the exception of the bass, of course).
>
>
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
>
> --- "Dr. Marion Ceruti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> > Vance Wood wrote:
> >
> > "However there is an historical accuracy not
> touched
> > on and that is the limits of
> > expediency in addressing some of the same problems
> > that seem to plague us."
> >
> > ++I agree with Vance on this one.
> > Whether we like it or not, we are stuck with
> > historical accuracy.
> > This past weekend I brought my 8c ren lute from
> the
> > coast where
> > it is cool and (relatively) damp to the desert
> where
> > it is hot and dry.
> > It took me an hour to tune, pegs being the way
> they
> > are. If we
> > were more interested in efficiency than were were
> in
> > historical
> > accuracy we would be using machine tuning. I can
> > tune three
> > or four strings on a modern instrument to within
> 1/4
> > cent accuracy
> > (the limit of the gauge) in the time it takes to
> > tune one string
> > on a peg given a change in ambient temperature or
> > humidity.
> >
> > I can see some advantage in movable frets, but I
> > really see no
> > advantage whatsoever in pegs, other than the
> > historical significance.
> > Historical accuracy comes with a very high
> pricetag
> > in terms of
> > time wasted that otherwise could be used for
> > practicing.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Marion
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vance Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Apr 4, 2005 12:22 PM
> > To: lute list <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>, Caroline
> > Usher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Subject: Re: Newbie Question #2
> >
> > Dear Caroline:
> >
> > In the context this was written------Yes. When it
> > comes to understanding
> > the instrument, the music and the
> > player/authors------No. In answered to
> > the question we? If that means you wish to
> exclude
> > yourself from that
> > painting with a broad brush I would like to hear
> > your thoughts. If you mean
> > that I am caught up in historical accuracy, which
> > incidentally is not so
> > because I cannot afford it, and should have not
> used
> > the word "We" I stand
> > corrected. However from the way things tend to go
> > on this list it would
> > seem that most are very much centered on
> historical
> > accuracy. However there
> > is an historical accuracy not touched on and that
> is
> > the limits of
> > expediency in addressing some of the same problems
> > that seem to plague us.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Caroline Usher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "lute list" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
> > Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 12:04 PM
> > Subject: Re: Newbie Question #2
> >
> >
> > > At 11:29 AM 4/3/2005, Vance Wood wrote:
> > > >I think sometimes we get too caught up in the
> > historical accuracy of what
> > it
> > > >is we do.
> > >
> > > What you mean we, white man?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ;-)
> > > Caroline
> > > Caroline Usher
> > > DCMB Administrative Coordinator
> > > 613-8155, Box 91000
> > > B343 LSRC
>
=== message truncated ===
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