And one more thought- I would bet that a lot of the historic lute players- after the more universal use of the doubled first- reverted to a single by simply letting letting nature take its course. One of the strings pops- but the player just keeps on going. And going. Hopkinson Smith told me at a workshop that that was how he came to use only a single first on his vihuela. If I remember correctly, Dan Larson saw wear marks on the bridge consistent with a single first when he carefully examined the Chambure artifact in Paris. He also saw wear evidence indicating octaves beginning at the 4th course.
I might also add that low tension makes clean playing of any double course significantly more difficult with synthetics than with gut. I currently have my d-minor Baroque lute lightly strung according to Toyohiko's recommended tensions- but with synthetics, and it is more difficult to play everything cleanly- I should "gut" the thing or crank up the tension a little. Dan -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
