Jon, I've gotten truly obsessive and use both kinds of straps, mainly to reinforce the correct angle of the instrument. The neck strap balances the instrument and keeps the neck at the right angle (up and down), the short strap (the butt strap?) keeps the instrument angled fore-and-aft so that my left hand reaches for the neck at the correct angle. I can see that eventually I might do away with one or the other of these, but right now it's helpful. I've tried using only the short strap, but found it uncomfortable. The neck seemed to wander around without the strap on the peg box.
What do people use for straps? I make mine out of heavy ribbon sewn to pieces of leather at either end; sort of like lightweight guitar straps. I don't think the leather is necessary for strength, but the ribbon would start to unravel if I put buttonholes in it. Tim On Sunday, April 10, 2005, at 01:47 AM, Jon Murphy wrote: > Dana says it well, there are many old pictures of lutenists with > straps, but > I'd be careful to ensure the bridge end of the body can handle it. > This is > gratuitous, I admit, but there is another purpose. I've been playing my > "flat back", which is a thicker body, with a strap for some time - in > my one > lesson the teacher did so, and had the neck end tied in his peg block. > Then > I went back to working from the beginning of my copy of Damiano's > "Method > for the Renaissance Lute" and noted that he suggested attaching a > strip of > leather to the butt end of the lute and passing it under one's own > butt. > > I tried it, took the guitar strap I was using and shortened it (no, I > didn't > destroy it, just used the slide buckle to minimize it). Wow, a > revelation. > by holding the butt end of the lute down to my thigh (with a bit of > chamois > cloth from an auto parts store to provide friction) I got a much better > balance of the instrument and a freer left hand. > > So this doesn't speak to strap buttons, but it does speak to straps. > > Best, Jon > > ----- > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
