At 01:42 PM 11/3/2007 +0100, Anthony Hind wrote: >Also he mentions the question of the octaves on the lower courses >having been historically about half the tension of the basses >themselves. > >"6. Octave strings: the modern tendency is to apply a noticeably >lower tension than on their respective fundamental strings (Virdung, >1511 wrote that the octave's gauge must be half than the paired bass >string)"
Interesting. I was unaware of Virdung's quote, but I am also a gut user, and I have found this to be true. For me, the best results are where the octave is 1/2 the diameter of the fundamental. For instance, if I have a 1.0 fundamental, the octave usually is around .50. It I use 1.6 fundamental, the octave ends up .80. It is interesting with these equalities, that the tension in Kg or newtons comes out to be the same, which is the fundamental & it's octave end up being the same tension. To me, it feels and sound the best when strung in that manner. ed Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
