That is a bit of a specialist job and even lute makers tend to hate doing it (although it can be done). Unless the present holes are particularly high, you probably wouldn't gain much anyway and you might encounter the problem afterwards of the strings being too close to the soundboard for comfort (you are effectively loosing the benefit of whatever dishing there is). An over high action (measured from the fingerboard to the underside of the top string at the 8th fret) can be adjusted either by planing down the fingerboard if the luthier made it thick enough, (best case scenario) or by taking the top off and removing wood from the ribs (expensive business). If the action is really high you might even be talking about having to reset the neck. If you only need very minor gains then you could try retying the strings and use more windings around the bridge, pushing the strings down gently as you tune them up so that they lie lower. Best, Matthew
Has anyone ever tried re-drilling the holes to lower the action? How might one do that without removing the bridge? A. John Mardinly, Ph.D., P.E. On Jun 29, 2018, at 12:37 PM, guy_and_liz Smith <[1]guy_and_...@msn.com> wrote: I enlarged a couple of bridge holes on my old Larry Brown, which was apparently drilled for relatively thin wound basses and couldn't accommodate larger gut strings. I used what's called a pin vise to hold the drill (standard item in machine shops), with some tape on the top to protect it from the vise. Then just gently spin the pin vise with your fingers to drill out the hole. The main trick is finding a vice that's skinny enough to handle the spacing between hole and top. Here's one example of a pin vise: [2]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.c om_Starrett-2D162A-2DVise-2D0-2D0-2D040-2DRange_dp_B06Y5SG9LD_ref-3D sr-5F1-5F6-3Fs-3Dhi-26ie-3DUTF8-26qid-3D1530300625-26sr-3D1-2D6-26ke ywords-3Dpin-2Bvise&d=DwIFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuK y6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=o18tltRbhed6j CjqKxpJAhCot28OtiG0dJ2bafjczwY&s=VkMbfG1-1rjLpHg35Z1_NPV0P7ozNZteRfj QLWQdI3Q&e= Guy -----Original Message----- From: [3]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [[4]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Matthew Daillie Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 11:50 AM To: lutelist Net Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lubricating string ends/bridge holes? Hi Howard, Even in relatively dry climates gut somehow manages to absorb humidity and swell over time. Personally I would try to avoid lubricating the strings. Have you tried cutting the end at an angle to slip it through? You could probably also gently sand the last 5 mm or so of the end of the string with some very fine emery paper without the risk of fraying or weakening. Enlarging the bridge holes can be very straight forward with the appropriate tools (I can send you a photo of the tools I use if you're interested). Best, Matthew On 29/06/2018 19:14, howard posner wrote: I reconfigure the stringing on my archlute from time to time, which involves moving some extension strings so that, e.g. the 8th course becomes the 12th for one stringing B, then gets moved back for stringing A. I now find that couple of gut extension strings won't fit through bridge holes that they always fit through before. I tried blow-drying the string ends, on the assumption that they had swelled with humidity (not a sound assumption where I live), without success. So now, if I don't want to string the whole instrument lighter, it seems I have two options: widening the bridge holes or lubricating the string ends. I'd like to try lubricating first. Does anyone have experience with string lube jobs? What do you use? To get on or off this list see list information at [5]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__eur03.safeli nks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttp-3A-252F-252Fwww.cs.dartmout h.edu-252F-7Ewbc-252Flute-2Dadmin-252Findex.html-26data-3D02-257C01- 257C-257C1c0cd246441345bb1e8408d5ddf13779-257C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aa aaaaaaaaaa-257C1-257C0-257C636658950444650467-26sdata-3DkNJclNqJmJgD eC5C5VeNawW0K5F7LzF-252FTJcgosQSnHQ-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwIFaQ&c=l 45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvx MmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=o18tltRbhed6jCjqKxpJAhCot28OtiG0dJ2bafjczwY&s =jBrUoVSMUtmITLVDRIEt0FwUXuBrRJuRD8BNz-sI1r4&e= --- Cet email a fait l'objet d'une analyse antivirus par AVG. [6]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__eur03.safeli nks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttp-253A-252F-252Fwww.avg.com-2 6data-3D02-257C01-257C-257C1c0cd246441345bb1e8408d5ddf13779-257C84df 9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa-257C1-257C0-257C636658950444650467-26sd ata-3DPGsIilT0PmX6gfDMlgC0gUGdDH9ZVMB4X44c4eNop4g-253D-26reserved-3D 0&d=DwIFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c _C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=o18tltRbhed6jCjqKxpJAhCot28OtiG 0dJ2bafjczwY&s=aPk23Gxhx_SXUE8QFk5CxDaIW_ptRxS1TcThZZUk3Vc&e= -- References 1. mailto:guy_and_...@msn.com 2. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Starrett-2D162A-2DVise-2D0-2D0-2D040- 3. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 4. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 5. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttp-3A-252F-252Fwww.cs.dartmouth.edu-252F- 6. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttp-253A-252F-252Fwww.avg.com-26data-3D02-257C01-257C-257C1c0cd246441345bb1e8408d5ddf13779-257C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa-257C1-257C0-257C636658950444650467-26sdata-3DPGsIilT0PmX6gfDMlgC0gUGdDH9ZVMB4X44c4eNop4g-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwIFaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=o18tltRbhed6jCjqKxpJAhCot28OtiG0dJ2bafjczwY&s=aPk23Gxhx_SXUE8QFk5CxDaIW_ptRxS1TcThZZUk3Vc&e=