How about Zedler?
The 64 volumes were published between 1732 and 1754, vol. 33 describing interesting
things on the topic of "saite", like the process of manufacturing, different
colours and materials. No loading, I'm afraid, but overspuns, though they seem to serve
as a kind of jewelery thread...
http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~zedler/zedler2007/index.html
Anyway, I seem to remember Tim Crawford citing in Bremen recently an article in
an encyclopedia for ladies, explaning a lute to be strung with gut strings
overspun with silver (Leipzig? first half of 18th cent.?).
Regards
Stephan
Am 29.11.2012, 16:10 Uhr, schrieb R. Mattes <r...@mh-freiburg.de>:
On Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:04:48 +0100, Markus Lutz wrote
Hi Shaun, Hi Martyn,
unfortunately I cannot say too much on this topic, at least for the
17th century.
[...]
Another important source, though late, on all topics of life is
Krünitz, Oeconomische Encyclopädie. Probably it also depends on the
encyclopedy of Diderot and on other encyclopedys, for sure at least
some things will have been copied.
It has 242 volumes and describes many things very detailed.
He has big articles on the lute and on strings
Krünitz,
Artikel Laute (lute, vol. 66, p. 380ff, 1795)
But this is rather late as a source for information on 17th century
lute practice (or even for the first half of the 18th century).
There have been two changes in lute building during that time:
first, the extension of the bass range by adding a second pegbox
(swank neck lutes) and then the change to bass rider style lutes
during the 18th century (the later could well be a in response
to a wider availability of overspun bass strings).
[...]
Artikel Saiten (strings, Vol. 130, p. 1822)
Man färbt die Saiten auch blau und roth; blau, indem man sie durch
eine kalte Brühe von Lackmus mit Potasche, roth, indem man sie durch
den Auszug der türkischen Schminklappen und Potasche durchzieht.
Sowohl die gefärbten, als die weißen Saiten werden nachher
geschleimt, weil der Schleim den Ton stumpf macht. Die blaugefärbten
Saiten nehmen im Schwefeln eine rothe Farbe an.
(Here he describes in detail how strings are made, the short part
tells how the strings had been colored blue with litmus and potash,
and red with turkish paint cloth (?Schminklappen?) and potash).
"Schminklappen" are coloured/dyed pieces of cloth that were used to give
to give the skin a redish teint. The cloth (or paper -> "Schmikpaier") was
made wet (humid) and rubbed over the face.
Turkish might give a hint at the colour used: probaly turkish "Krapplack"
(Rubia tinctorum, eng. dyer's madder), a widely used colour until the
19th century.
Krünitz is very late, but he sums up everything from the 16th to the
18th century. In his article on the lute he mentions beside others
Besard, Baron, Weiss etc.
Yes, so utterly unuseable as a source for when things fist show up ;-)
Cheers, Ralf Mattes
--
R. Mattes -
Hochschule fuer Musik Freiburg
r...@inm.mh-freiburg.de
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Viele Grüße
Best regards
Stephan Olbertz
