I just finished reading some Dalsa in Italian Tab. then tried to read some
French tab. Man, my mind stopped working for a moment. So I checked my
Email.
Chad,
Interesting you picked up on this as well. 20 or so years ago, I quit
using Honduran Mahogany, for necks in exchange for a lighter wood called
Spanish cedar ( cedro).
H. Mahogany is the typical wood Hauser used, and the Spanish cedar is
typical for Spanish guitars.
H. Mahogany is heavier, and gave the guitars more sustain, especially in
the bass, but less warmth and volume. S. Cedar gave the guitars more
warmth, and openness in the treble, more volume, but less sustain, and less
clarity in the bass.
I've always told guitarist's that the neck can make or break an
instrument. Also, if you make a thin neck you get more warmth, ( up to a
point) and the opposite for a thicker neck.
I also will inlay a piece of hardwood inside the neck not to reinforce
it, but to kill the natural frequency in the neck, so it won't color the
tone.
Chad as you mentioned adding heaver tangents, for the bass, this makes
perfect sense, as the bass needs damping which is mass. This same principle
can be seen on lute bridges. On the bass side of the bridge, it is higher,
and wider adding mass, but on the treble side it is lower, and more narrow
creating lightness, as well as stiffness.
Anyway, in the next few days I'm making a neck for a baroque lute, and
can't decide on going with linden (light ) or Spanish cedar ( a little
heaver) for the core.
Michael Thames
www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chad McAnally" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "lute" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: Built-in action? Double frets
>
> Michael Thames wrote: <<<If one really thinks about it, half the sound
goes into the bridge, and half goes into the neck, via the frets. So to not
consider the effect the frets
> contribute would be silly.>>>
>
> Now I know this is a lute list, not an early keyboard list, but I have
come upon a direct parallel that may be of interest to lutenist and luthiers
alike. The same phenomenon mentioned above by Michael was recently has been
noted also on clavichords in an article by Martin Skowroneck in "Clavichord
Intenational" ( Vol 9 #1 May 2005)
> ; Half the energy of the strings goes into the bridge and half into the
tangents, equivalent to the "frets" of a clavichord.
>
> It appear the some of the old builders realized this and made their
tangents progressively heavier toward the bass end of the instrument, or
tried to concentrate more the weight of the key levers closer to the tangent
end, both in an effort to make the key "reflect" more of the energy of the
string. Also critical to this was making the tangent more stable in the key
than the traditional hammering in of the tangent. Some makers used addition
small wooden wedges to tighten the tangent into the key to accomplish this.
>
> So, I began to experiment with all this on an instrument I'm working on.
The result was not only a slightly louder clavichord but the tone was
totally different. Very much like Michael's description of the impact the
double fretting has on Baroque lute tone, the sustain is increased, but not
so much as to muddy the instrument and the overall tone colour was rounder,
much closer to the antiques in good condition I've heard and played.
>
> So, I wonder if the stability of the frets via double fretting transfers
more energy to the neck resulting in a better tone or like the clavichord
tangent, the double frets help reflects the motion of the string better into
the air? A new puzzle for builders!
>
> Chad
>
>
>
> --
>
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