Very interesting example Stuart: where's it from? Is it one of the transcriptions from a lute source?
My comment about the bandora repertoirs being manageable with a string length in the 70s wouldn't seem to include this example - which is indeed tricky! As you say it might be a singular anomaly: perhaps a literal intabluation error - indeed, it's odd that it wasn't all intabulated in the 5th 'position' [ie 1f, 3f, 4h chord shape as found in Holborne pieces] - maybe the voice leading?. I've just skimmed the Holborne and Barley pieces and Dd.2.11 but couldn't spot it there, but maybe the skimming was too light..... M --- On Tue, 14/6/11, Stuart Walsh <[email protected]> wrote: From: Stuart Walsh <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: bandora tunes To: "Nancy Carlin" <[email protected]> Cc: "Martyn Hodgson" <[email protected]>, "Lute Net" <[email protected]>, "Lute builder Dmth" <[email protected]>, "Cittern Dmth" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, 14 June, 2011, 22:27 On 14/06/2011 20:08, Nancy Carlin wrote: I think it is now common knowledge among the few people who build orpharions and bandoras that the bridges should be tapered higher off the belly on the bass side. Here is a link to some details on the Palmer orphario (the 9 course instrument in Denmark). [1][1]http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm Unfortunately the bridge is a replacement. If you read the pamphlet on wire strings that the Lute Society (England) puts out you will see that the Rose orpharion also has a replacement bridge. About the tension on my 2 orpharions - my 6 course Rose (built by Peter Biffin in 1984) feels like it has a bit more tension, and I am very happy with the intonation. My 9 course Palmer (built by Bruce Brook in 2009) has lots more strings and the tension feels lighter. During the year + I have had it, the intonation problems have improved with a combination of string changes and my improved skill in getting my left hand fingers where they needed to be for this instrument, plus I got a better tuner. On the Palmer, I had initially tried an octave on the 6th course, but if the 2 different strings were pulled slightly off, the intonation was much more offensive than with unison strings. Both instruments have a tastini to help intonation, but they are in different places. About the string clashing and other assorted buzzes and nasty noises - If you hit a string too hard it can buzz on the metal frets - something that lute players don't need to worry about. With my 2 instruments the feel of the frets is quite different. The Rose has lower scallops between each fret, so it's harder to get a good clear sound for bar chords. The Palmer has a lovely low action and the bar chords are a dream, unless you are pulling a string a bit to the side. The Rose has the string in the pairs closer together, which works well with that bit more tension. The Palmer has the string further apart and it has taken a while to get used to the spacing One more thing about the tension and playability - my borrowed bandora, which is old and seems quite high tension, has no scallops between the frets, but works well for intonation and bar chords. It's biggest problem is that it is quite loud, especially when combined with lutes. Nancy Another interesting bandora issue is that there were (or may have been) smaller bandoras. Peter Forrester and Donald Gill (and others?) have suggested that bandoras in D, a fourth higher, existed. There are some very difficult stretches in some of the bandora solos (but not in the existing bandora consort parts, I think). For example, this chord: third course, second fret + second course, first fret + first course, fifth fret. On an instrument with the first course at about 72cms that's an enormous stretch. (Of course, this might just be an anomaly) Stuart -- References 1. [2]http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm To get on or off this list see list information at [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm 2. http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
