And I look forward to picking that lute up tomorrow! I am far from being an expert in the area of string tensions, lengths, pitches and breaking points, but I find myself reflecting on how dm tuning came about by LOWERING the tension of the first course from viel ton, as French players started the search for a more resonant instrument. Some of the lower courses were raised in tension. As we know, there were over thirty (I read it somewhere many years ago) different tunings during the first half of the 17th century, most of which involved the first course or two being lowered. Do comments about raising the first course to just below breaking point actually come from France at this period?
Rob www.rmguitar.info -----Original Message----- From: Martin Shepherd [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 10 December 2007 08:57 To: Lute Net Subject: [LUTE] Re: baroque lute pitch Dear All, I assume, at least as a starting point, that baroque lutes had a a first course tuned reasonably close to breaking point just like renaissance lutes (Mimmo has an argument that the limiting factor on a baroque lute is actually the 5th course because it is too thin to be anything other than plain gut, so it's important to keep it as thin as possible). If you take g' at a'=440 as a reasonable pitch for a 60cm string length - and I find a good gut string is fine at that pitch - then the equivalent for f' is about 67cm and for e' about 71cm. So I have no problem tuning a baroque lute to f' at a'=415, as long as the string length is less than about 71cm. In fact the lute I have just finished for Rob MacKillop is only 69cm, so a bit more into the comfort zone. Best wishes, Martin David Rastall wrote: >On Dec 8, 2007, at 9:37 AM, Edward Martin wrote: > > > >>I have an 11 course 67.5 cm mensur, tuned at 415. I also have a >>70.5 cm >>mensur lute, tuned at around 405-410 (I would like to tune at 415, >>but it >>is too long to accommodate a treble). >> >> > >Hi Ed, > >I'm surprised to hear you say that 70.5 cm is too long for 415. My >13-course is 75.5 cm and it's quite comfortable at 415. It's not >strung in gut, though. In fact, I've never had gut strings on this >lute. I've been thinking lately about changing over to gut on this >lute. Would gut trebles really be that uncomfortable at 75.5? > >David Rastall >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > >-- > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
