> > A String length for courses 8 - 13 on extension (Range 70-130) To give one suggested string tension for any string length between 70 and 130cm is a little silly. With the Kuerschner slide rule as a guide: for a string length of 70cm it suggests around 30N for the basses and around 28N for the octave strings. For a string length of 130cm basses around 41N and the octaves around 38N. Bruno's lute with a string length of 92cm would come to around 35N for the basses and 32N for the octaves. These are figures that make sense to me. Of course, YMMV: low tension lovers or high tension lovers, preference for higher tension octave strings, &c. On my website there's an article on the how and why of calculating string tensions. Here's a relevant part without the math: The choice of string tension on a lute is dependend on a number of factors, not least of which is personal preference. And also, different materials require different string tensions, and so do different playing techniques. However, a few general remarks that can serve as a guide can be made. Here follows a list of recommended string tensions for the first string of a lute, in relation to its string length: String length - Tension of first string 85cm - 42N 81cm - 41N 77cm - 40N 74cm - 39N 70cm - 38N 66cm - 37N 62cm - 36N 59cm - 35N 56cm - 34N 52cm - 33N Conventional wisdom has it that the second string should have a tension about 90% of that of the first string. The rest of the strings have a tension again about 90% lower than that of the second string, and octave strings are about 90% lower than that of their fundamentals. But, again, personal preferences might make you decide to change some of these tensions. ******************************* David van Ooijen [1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [2]www.davidvanooijen.nl *******************************
-- References 1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
