Well, first, if you use his mathematical method, you compound your measurement error at every fret, so, of course it sound out of tune. Each fret should be measured from the nut.
Second, Dowland's instructions have a big error in the placement of the seventh fret (unless I'm just completely missunderstanding what he's saying)... and it's really hard to do things like divide a measure into elevenths... If you're tying on the frets, why not just do it by ear? BTW, I have a spreadsheet that will give you fret placement for Pythagorean tuning at http://doctoroakroot.com/tools/Pythagorean_Fret_Calculator.xls - much easier than Dowland :o) > on this site: > > http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/frets.html#fn1 > > .. jeff lee has kindly posted a modern > transliteration of dowland's fret spacing method and a > mathematical formula for calculating same. > > he prefers the dowland to the math method as it "... > sounds extremely out of tune compared to dowland's > spacing. > > has anyone had comparable experience? > > i'll be tying frets onto my oud ("lude") when it > returns from the luthier and would like them to be as > precise as possible. > > thank you - bill > > early music charango ... http://groups.google.com/group/charango > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new > Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- http://DoctorOakroot.com - Rough-edged songs on homemade GIT-tars.
