Dear all The question of string length has a problem: It's not the thickness of the string. Theoretically the strings of all diameters break at the same pitch - the thinner with a lower tension and the thicker ones with a higher tension. The question is more: When breaks the bridge or the top... That's the true reason for taking the thinnest possible string! So normally it's a very easy formula: at 240 Hz/m a gut string has his breaking point (some string maker says 250 Hz/m). If you like to play - and not to change strings - you have to choose the string length a semitone lower (result / 1.0594). So you can calculate: If you want an instrument in g' with a' = 440 Hz, the g' has 392 Hz. 240 Hz/m / 392 Hz = string length of 0.612 m. One semitone lower (0.612 m / 1.0594) it's 0.578 m.
You see the unknown elements: 1. Gut material in 16th, 17th and 18th century: Our modern gut for chanterelles is not made of lambs, it's sheep gut. So the breaking point could be different from our 240 Hz/m or 250 Hz/m. 2. The pitch (a' = ??? Hz) 3. The tuning for some instruments. Who knows f.ex. a proof for a 10c. lute in G? At which time at which place with which pitch? We often has "modern problems" because the pitch ant the material has changed. Andreas > > Apart from stretches, it occurs to me that another reason people > want a > short lute is because they want it to be "in G". Historical pitch > is a > minefield, but it is highly likely that when Dowland regarded his lute > as being in G, it was a G at least a tone below modern pitch, > possibly a > minor third. With lutes, it is important to keep the pitch as high as > possible for a given string length, but given the smallest gut string > which could be made (about .43mm according to modern guesswork) and > the > maximum likely tension (perhaps about 40N according to other > completely > different modern guesswork), longer lutes of 65-70cm would be tuned > much > lower than modern pitch, even though still nominally "in G". The > association between a note name and a specific pitch level is in any > case a modern idea which would have been completely unfamiliar to > Dowland et al. > > Martin > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
