Funny thing - Although body frets were not unknown back in the day, there's very little evidence of them actually being in general use. Few surviving instruments show signs of ever having had them and they are equally rare in the iconography. I wonder if the players back then weren't as bothered as we are about sustain and they must have been pretty good at planting their LH finger in just the right spot.
Bill From: Dan Winheld <dwinh...@lmi.net> To: Cc: lute <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Wednesday, 30 October 2013, 18:24 Subject: [LUTE] Re: Best body fret material? Thanks all for the great replies. Lilac? That is the most intriguing of all. Holly and bamboo sound like good candidates also. Sterling- thanks for reminding me of those amazing frets! I must have seen them at Cleveland some time ago. A top professional guitar builder in my neighborhood recommends bone over ivory for strength & durability- I am considering letting him do my body frets this time around. Dan On 10/30/2013 9:23 AM, Eric Hansen wrote: > A few years ago I was visiting luthier Joel Van Lennep, who showed me > his favorite material for fixed (body) frets: lilac. He said he > preferred it because it's very hard, and yet still flexible. > > > > Best to all, > > Eric > > On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 6:21 AM, Sterling <[1][1]spiffys84...@yahoo.com> > wrote: > > I have body frets on one lute made of an ivory-ebony sandwich and > they sound great up to the 14th fret. Cutting ivory is not easy > though as it tends to shatter. Another lute I have has > holly-ebony-holly frets. I like these flashy frets, but my friend > Bob Hieronimus hates them and prefers that the body frets are almost > invisible. > Sterling > Sent from my iPhone > > On Oct 29, 2013, at 11:05 PM, Dan Winheld <[2][2]dwinh...@lmi.net> wrote: > > Talk of tastini has gotten me wondering, what is the best material > for body frets? I have been playing a lot of music recently that dances > around in the lute's stratosphere- Melchior Neusidler, Mudarra, Milan's > advanced fantasias, etc. The plain wooden frets I have now- probably > Maple, maybe Boxwood; sound pretty terrible compared to the gut frets. > I am thinking Ebony, some other dense tropical hardwood, bone, or even > some modern synthetic- but only if aesthetically acceptable & sonically > superior. If anyone knows of some magic non-metallic body fret material > I would really like to know. > > > > Part of the problem is the buzzing, unclean sound that results from a > squared off fret- an inevitable result of having to shave them down for > proper clearance after gluing down. Ideally, they should be crowned- or > at least rounded edges for best tone. Tough, fussy job to do even > before installation for the non-luthier DIY amateur. > > > > Thanks all for any enlightenment on this bit of lute pain. > > > > Dan > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > [3][3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > Eric Hansen > Librarian & lutenist -- > > References > > 1. mailto:[4]spiffys84...@yahoo.com > 2. mailto:[5]dwinh...@lmi.net > 3. [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- References 1. mailto:spiffys84...@yahoo.com 2. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 4. mailto:spiffys84...@yahoo.com 5. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
