I fully agree, Howard, that it is always interesting to explore how lutemaking developed and why certain instruments were modified to cater for changes in taste. There were clearly some very convincing conversions made of renaissance lutes for baroque lutenists, but wouldn't we have preferred that they start afresh so that we have both a renaissance lute and a baroque lute in their original state? What about all those historic lutes converted into hurdy-gurdies or 'lute-guitars' of one sort or another. We could also take into consideration the quality of these conversions, often blindly assuming that modern tastes and methods are better. Sometimes, as with harpsichords (of the Ruckers family in particular) the conversions have enabled the instruments to survive across the ages in one form or another but frequently so modified as to give us few clues regarding their original state. Anyway, I do hope that Magnus gets the instrument he wants and finds suitable strings for the diapasons. Best Matthew
> On Dec 12, 2017, at 7:59, howard posner <howardpos...@ca.rr.com> wrote: > > And yet someone wanted to alter an expensive, splendid instrument in just > that way, spending money that might have been spent on a courtesan or a > cornetto. > > Maybe that person had an actual reason, and we might learn something by > considering what it might have been. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
