Dear Anthony and All,
Just to fill in the missing details:
The first lute (currently tuned in e', though it has been in f') is my
"no.2", made in 1982. It has a 13-rib yew back and a longish, almost
Maler shape - not based on any particular model. The rose is quite
small, which we would expect would favour the bass.
The 5th course is a pistoy, the 6th Stoppani. The 4th course in in unison.
The second lute (in a') is my no.3, made in 1983 (it didn't take a year
to make, by the way, just nine days). Again it's a relatively long thin
shape (photos of it as no.1 in the 6c section of my catalogue), 11 ribs
of plum. The 5th and 6th courses are "Venice" strings. Octaves on 4-6.
The third lute (in g') is my no.4, made in 1985. It's a Gerle, with a
plum back. String types as for the first lute, octaves on 4-6.
I think the main point of interest in this comparison is simply that
lutes of different sizes and pitches sound different (and feel
different, by the way) and it would be nice if there were more variety
in the sizes which people play - there's a whole world of different
sounds out there which could enrich our music if only we weren't so
wedded to the idea that lutes have to be 60cm, "in G" at modern pitch.
It has been fashionable to use the smaller lutes for Dalza, etc, but it
can be revealing to try non-obvious combinations - solemn fantasias on
little lutes or fast dances on big lutes. I'm game to take suggestions,
by the way....
Best wishes,
Martin
Anthony Hind wrote:
Martin
Beautifully played as before, and the recordings are very good.
It is an excellent idea to make this systematic string length
comparison.
I am just wondering, however, whether the lutes are copies of the
same model, and whether there is much difference in stringing.
I know of course, that even if they were exactly the same string
length, model and with the same stringing there still could be a
variation.
Nevertheless, my question does not alter my feeling that this is a
very interesting way of doing things.
Can we look forward, now, to comparisons of different models with
identical string lengths?
Best regards
Anthony
Le 16 févr. 08 à 21:45, Martin Shepherd a écrit :
Dear All,
As previously threatened, a comparison of three different-sized
lutes (e' at 67.3cm, a' at 53.5cm and g' at 60cm) at:
http://www.luteshop.co.uk/02fm04lutecomprvb.mp3
Sorry the server doesn't seem to have updated the recordings page
yet, but if you click on this link you should get the soundfile.
Best wishes,
Martin
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
