Dear Martyn Re 'minimum' gut dia: I'm not really convinced about the evidence for min dia related to the size of a single gut: why couldn't the gut simply be split (on a horn or other means) and then twisted? Martyn
Martin Shepherd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Rob, Bruno, and All, I was surprised how different the two recordings (the first "doodle" and then the chaconne) sounded - I thought the treble sounded well in the doodle, hardly at all in the chaconne. I think the hand position must have had a large part in this. Just for info - the top string was initially a .44, giving a tension of about 40N at the "inbetween" pitch of about a'=400 which is where the lute was when the first recording was made. This is about the same tension as I would use on a renaissance lute top string - high by some people's standards, but I felt it was necessary to balance the second course, which always seems to sound very strong on Dm tuned lutes, for obvious reasons. An interesting sidelight is thrown on this by Dowland (VLL, 1610), writing when the lute had acquired nine courses but still in the old tuning (and with a double first course): [referring to the strings for the first course] "let it not be too small, for those give no sound, besides they will be either rotten for lacke of substance, or or extreame false." and "...first set on your Trebles, which must be strayned neither too stiffe nor too slacke, but of such a reasonable height that they may deliver a pleasant sound, and also (as Musitions call it) play too and fro after the strokes thereon." Modern stringmakers tell us that the thinnest string the Old Ones could have made (using whole guts) was about .43mm - if so, Dowland's first course must have been at a pretty low pitch, otherwise the tension would have been enormous. I'm also inclined to agree with you that the new tunings involved lowering the first course - so the "bass string problem" is even bigger than we have hitherto realized. Dowland's nine-course lute is perhaps the most difficult of all to string because it has the biggest open string range, two octaves and a major seventh (the bottom course was frequently tuned down a tone to a nominal BBb) - as compared with a range of two octaves and a fourth for an 11c lute in Dm tuning. Best wishes, Martin Rob wrote: >Thanks Bruno, > >I don't know the tension of the first string, but maybe Martin Shepherd does >as he built the lute and put the string on. He did in fact choose the string >for tuning at 415, but I like French music at a low pitch so lowered the >pitch accordingly. My theory is that dm tuning was discovered through a >process of lowering the first course to allow a greater resonance with lower >tension. Because the string travels a bit more from side to side when >plucked, it becomes necessary to pluck closer to the bridge to control the >string better. So I did not do it primarily because that is the way it >appears in some paintings. Of course, not all paintings show the little >finger on the bridge, and I think the Mouton portrait is the closest to my >present position. I quite like his wig too... >http://www.rmguitar.info/French.htm > >I agree that the bass is overpowering the trebles, which is why I no longer >use this technique. I think I have a more balanced sound now that I have >moved a little bit away from the bridge. I did the recording as an >experiment because I had read many negative comments about such a technique, >but it didn't sound so bad to me. But please keep in mind that this lute was >a new one, completely strung in gut - all this might sound different in a >year or so. > >Rob > >www.rmguitar.info > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Bruno Correia [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: 07 January 2008 19:29 >To: Lute Net >Subject: [LUTE] Re: RH on the bridge > >Rob, > >Good job with the chaconne! Hearing your playing I really can't find any >trace of harshness, it's really a surprise from someone playing so close to >the bridge. But I think the bass is overpowering the trebles, the lute is >sounding almost like a deep theorbo! You said the pich was A 392, this means >a G in A 440, so your first string which is suposed to be an F is in fact an >Eb... What about the tension you have on your first string? > > I know Toyohiko Satoh has the same setup, but what is the reason for this >approach? Just to use the RH on the bridge like the paintings? > >Regards. > > > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --------------------------------- Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox. --
