Dear Wisdom, My frets are getting loose (late wintertime? too much playing?...). In spite of much care from my part not to touch them they slip around with a dedicated sense of free will during playing, reducing the joy of it. So obviously I have some loosening-frets-beginner's questions, such as: (1) Why might this happen? Is this usual as time goes by? (2) What can one do best to tighten them.
In connection, I dare to pose an age-old question of mine, which is also a beginner's question: There has been much discussion in the list about tuning systems, adjusting the frets according to the tuning system and the particular piece at hand etc. It seemed to me that lutenists should be familiar with all this and the better of them are, but things also seemed utterly complicated and practice-demanding thus I did not get a good start with it. Or to put it more precisely: I collected quite some stuff from internet, even bought a book but, as said, it all frigthened me as it looked like so much work. Therefore my question: Is there a primer around for lutenists which allows understanding and getting practical as well, i.e., being able to set the frets etc. according to one's informed best idea how the piece should sound??? Or is there advice how to proceed best? And: How much time does one need to invest to acquire this skill at an elementary workable level? Best regards Franz ---------------------------------------------------- Dr. Franz Mechsner Reader Northumbria University, Dept. of Psychology Northumberland Building Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST (UK) Tel: +44(0) 191 243 7479 -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
