I have an 8 string guitar with an A first string at 65cm at 440. The size of the string is 0.41 and it sounds geat. It has been tuned up to pitch since 2008. I think it is nylon and I got it off my baroque lute. --Sterling From: Din Ghani <d...@sardin.co.uk> To: 'Paul Daverman' <daverman.p...@sbcglobal.net>; lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2013 2:34 PM Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Pitch center on a 10 cs. lute Hi Paul There is a useful explanation of the breaking limits for strings on the Aquila website: [1]http://www.aquilacorde.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article &idA&I temid84&lang=en Look for point 13 - however please note that the discussion is based on the old Nylgut material - according to their page on "New Nylgut" the breaking index for this is significantly higher than for the old version. This would seem to indicate that it would be possible to string a 65cm G-lute to A440 using New Nylgut - has anyone had first-hand experience of this? On the more general issue of pitch, is there any specific reason for wanting to tune it to A440 (I am assuming that you are talking about it being nominally a G lute)? As Bill indicated, if you'll be playing solo mainly it doesn't really matter, and it's possible you might find the instrument of that size may work better at a lower pitch. Also, if you work with singers the lower pitch can be more comfortable for the voice. Best wishes Din -----Original Message----- From: [2]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:[3]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of William Samson Sent: 01 January 2013 20:42 To: Paul Daverman; [4]lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Pitch center on a 10 cs. lute Hi Paul, I have a 10c lute of 66cm scale. The highest I can take it with a nylon chanterelle (the strongest material) is f# at A440 - and that's really pushing it. I normally keep it at f. Even at f, with a nylgut chanterelle, it tends to break quite frequently, which is why I use nylon for that one string. Of course f at A440 is the same as g at A392 and as I normally play it solo it doesn't matter a bit. It makes no difference how thick or thin the chanterelle is (for a given material), it will always tend to break at the same pitch, so substituting a string of different diameter won't help. So the problem isn't one of overstressing the lute if you tune it at A440, it's the impossibility of finding a string material for the chanterelle to take that pitch. For the record, A415 is a semitone down from A440 and A392 is a whole tone down from A440. Hope that helps! Bill From: Paul Daverman <[5]daverman.p...@sbcglobal.net> To: [6]lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu Sent: Tuesday, 1 January 2013, 20:02 Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Pitch center on a 10 cs. lute I am building a 10 cs. lute per Robert Lundberg's plans (10-cs Renaissance Lute, Dieffopruchar 1612). I am to the point where I have begun looking at strings so that I have an idea of diameters, etc. As this is my first lute build, I am looking at Nylgut and am looking to tune to AD0. One of the suppliers to which I have inquired has said that in A440 tuning, they have no strings at 65cm length that can take the tension for the chanderelle (and that no gut could either.) He said that the instrument was probably meant for A92 and while he could supply strings in either tuning, I'd have to look elsewhere for a string for the chanderelle if I chose A440. I am wondering if any of you can talk to this topic. Would I be over stressing the lute if I tune to the modern tuning of A440? Would A392 have been the intended tuning or maybe A415? What other repercussions of tuning one way vs. another should I know about? My music theory is a bit poor - is the difference between going from A440 tuning to A392 really any different that transposing down a (??) major second? Any word to help get all this straight in my mind would be appreciated. While I understand that "pitch" is all relative, I'm having a difficult time getting my arms around the practical understanding of what I should do for stringing. Thanks. Paul -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
-- References 1. http://www.aquilacorde.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&idA&I 2. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 3. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 4. mailto:lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu 5. mailto:daverman.p...@sbcglobal.net 6. mailto:lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
