[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
Definitely rounded. I can't see how you'd shape them down in place on the belly so knock them off and make new ones. Tonewise, I don't think the material makes a significant difference but they'll sound a lot nicer when they are rounded. Much like the effect when you trade those old flat-topped gut frets for new ones. s On Oct 29, 2013, at 10:05 PM, Dan Winheld 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 http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
Bamboo. Comes pre-shaped in the form of bbq/fondue skewers and/or tooth picks. David *** David van Ooijen [1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [2]www.davidvanooijen.nl *** On 30 October 2013 06:05, Dan Winheld [3]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 [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ 3. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
Two factors are of importance here. First the fret has to be crowned to get a good tone however, many soundboards are very thin in the area where the body frets are supposed to be located. This makes tone production a wobbly affair. It is easy to know where the bars are situated because where the body fret is positioned on or very close to a bar the sound is much improved. Some luthiers glue additional bars to the soundboard to stiffen it up in the critical area, although the old ones sometimes do not have those bars. Not all historical lutes had body frets or so it seems. My favorite fret material is bamboo as it is very easy to split and after glueing it on is very easy to crown and adjust the height with a small chisel. Take care not to dig in the belly though! Happy luting! Lex Op 30 okt 2013, om 06:05 heeft Dan Winheld het volgende geschreven: 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 http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] OT Looking for supporters
Dear all, first, please excuse the off-topic. Two young students of mine are joining in a small commercial band contest and hope to win a professional recording session with their band project Sweet Sounds. We need a few more votes until oct. 31 to win. So if you have a minute or two for visiting the contest's site and vote for the girls (if you like their self-composed song), that would be great: http://www.clairefontaine-rocks.de Click Sweet Sounds and then Melde dich an, um deine Stimme abzugeben to sign-in via Facebook (or to register conventionally). Many thanks and best regards Stephan To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
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 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 http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
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]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]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]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Eric Hansen Librarian lutenist -- References 1. mailto:spiffys84...@yahoo.com 2. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[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]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]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]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Eric Hansen Librarian lutenist -- References 1. mailto:spiffys84...@yahoo.com 2. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Best body fret material?
Rock Maple, used primarily for the bridges of bowed instruments, would work nicely. It's very very hard, and very light in color. Chris -Original Message- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Winheld Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 1:24 PM Cc: lute 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]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]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]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Eric Hansen Librarian lutenist -- References 1. mailto:spiffys84...@yahoo.com 2. mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Howard Skempton: Prelude 5 from 'Images', played on a lute
Here is a version of Howard Skempton's Prelude 5 from 'Images', published 1994. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k4hrIXnG24 Skempton is a minimalist, miniaturist. Stuart --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: Howard Skempton: Prelude 5 from 'Images', played on a lute
Such an interesting pieces, and so effective on lute. Weird ending, though. Thanks for the gift. David *** David van Ooijen [1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com [2]www.davidvanooijen.nl *** On 30 October 2013 23:10, WALSH STUART [3]s.wa...@ntlworld.com wrote: Here is a version of Howard Skempton's Prelude 5 from 'Images', published 1994. [4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k4hrIXnG24 Skempton is a minimalist, miniaturist. Stuart --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. [5]http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com 2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/ 3. mailto:s.wa...@ntlworld.com 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k4hrIXnG24 5. http://www.avast.com/ 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
