About coloured/dyed strings - I spoke to a harpist yesterday who told
me that coloured strings were sometimes used on renaissance harps to
help with orientation (as modern players use them today). In fact, I
was thinking about getting a few coloured basses for my theorbo...
On 7 October 2012 18:25, howard posner <[1]howardpos...@ca.rr.com>
wrote:
On Oct 7, 2012, at 4:23 AM, JarosAA'aw Lipski <[2]jaroslawlip...@wp.pl>
wrote:
> There is also quite a lot of speculation in your answer,
So I said at the beginning.
> however I doubt very much if Mace could be so poetic and enigmatic in
the book which was to simplify things. He was defending lute's position
amongst instruments so he tried to make explanations as easy as
possible. For us it's not easy because we didn't live at that time. IMO
he talks about most common things (obviously except his dyphone, but in
this case he wanted to show people his invention). I really doubt very
much that he would be inclined to make generalization after examining
just a one string and immediately wanting to share his discovery with
the whole world. In this case the whole book would be of little value
for anyone. But I don't thing this is the case. He clearly explained
that many kinds of strings were commonly dyed. Then he proceeded to
give his opinion on which ones were good, and which he found commonly
faulty. This would be quite a normal thing to write in a handbook.
Obviously, I'm less inclined to take Mace seriously than you are.
A You're writing here about what you would mean if you wrote what
Mace wrote. A I'm writing about what an oddball who may have been an
inaccurate observer or someone quick to jump to odd conclusions may
have meant. A And remember, when he wrote the book he was so deaf he
had to put his teeth on a lute to hear any sound from it, so the
details of strings' A actual sounds may have been a different
memory. A If you're inclined to take everything Mace says as
practical and workable, try building his dyphone, and then try
playing it.
> As far as your objections concerning unusual colors are concerned
please have a look at the 12c lute's bridge detail of Bilcius painting
(2nd half of the 17th c). It shows string colors from bright yellow,
orange, till various shades of blue.
Where?
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References
1. mailto:howardpos...@ca.rr.com
2. mailto:jaroslawlip...@wp.pl
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
