Right on, Ed! The lute that I call a "double 7" (It's NOT an 8 course!).
>A great majority of the music for which I use that instrument is >for 7 course, but it is so very convenient to have both a low F >_and_ D, so I do not have to re-tune the 7th course. I also >sometimes put octaves on both the 4th and 5th course, so I can play >Continental 6 course music. In gut, it sound absolutely no >different from other 6 course lutes in gut. > >ed I know that lute. Works for everything, you lucky bastard. The slippery slope Vincenzo Galilei was warning us about when I posted ".... on the way to 14 course Hell" >>Stewart McCoy wrote: Dear All, >>Unlike many of the contributors to this thread, I don't have a >>problem with 8-course lutes. They suit Terzi and Molinaro, of >>course, but you can use them to play earlier music like Capirola, >>and to some extent later music where nine or ten courses are >>required. If you want to buy many instruments, by all means buy a >>6-course for Milano, a 7-course for (some) Dowland, an 8-course for >>Terzi, a 9-course for Francisque, a 10-course for Vallet, and then >>splash out on an 11-course for Mouton, a 12-course for Wilson, and >>a 13-course for Weiss. Why stop there? Why not spend a few more >>thousand quid on various sorts of theorbo and archlute, and throw >>in a mandora or two? On the other hand, why not indeed? Part of being human is our love of too many toys- look at old Ray Fugger- and he only had 6 course instruments! I well remember the days when I just lusted for a single lute- it had to be 8 course for all the usual reasons as well as 60 cm to get as far away from "guitar" as possible. Now some of us have piles of lutes, and even include 70 cm 6 course lutes in "E"; what goes around comes around- sort of. I am right now babysitting a friend's collection while he is out of town- 2 six courses, an 8, 10, 11, 13, four acoustic and on electric guitar. No 7's or 9's- what's wrong with that guy? Cheap? But there are also several archcritters, of course. We're not that bad if we compare ourselves to Jerry Seinfeld and his car collection, among other obsessive compulsives. Don't ask about my archery stash, or my friend's watch & clock pile. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
