[BAROQUE-LUTE] KF strings
Can anyone tell me whether Savarez KF (Alliance?) strings have exactly the same density as lute strings, and therefore the same diameter? If they are like the famous carbon fibre strings they need to be quite a bit thinner than the gut equivalent. The Savarez site is not much help... Nigel --- Ce courrier électronique ne contient aucun virus ou logiciel malveillant parce que la protection avast! Antivirus est 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] A Knud Sindt 8 course lute for sale on eBay.it
Dear List, yesterday I noticed this ad ([1]http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem31121363358) on eBay: maybe somebody out there could be interested :-) Luca References 1. http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem31121363358 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] How to cut fret shims.
I have some basswood, about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm). I would like to cut it into matchstick-sized pieces, for use in tightening loose frets (on the back of the neck). Looking in Amazon, I did not see a tool that seemed likely to work well. I guess I need some type of little saw. I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. alexander r. On Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:33:16 -0600 (CST) Herbert Ward wa...@physics.utexas.edu wrote: I have some basswood, about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm). I would like to cut it into matchstick-sized pieces, for use in tightening loose frets (on the back of the neck). Looking in Amazon, I did not see a tool that seemed likely to work well. I guess I need some type of little saw. I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Speaking of surgical implements, a hemostat is an absolutely wonderful tool if you want to tie frets. It holds on to the short end and allows you to really pull quite hard for a tight fret, without wasting fretgut. -Original Message- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Winheld Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 6:35 PM To: alexander; Herbert Ward Cc: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims. I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Word, brother, Amen. That 'new fret' sound is worth its weight in gold. Just replaced mine Friday and I'm a happy camper again. Actual replacement per fret goes pretty quickly but assembling all the tools, finding my notes and gauges, etc can take the time*. For years I just used a match (or a butterknife over a stove flame) but have converted to the soldering iron recently since I'm currently stuck with a user-unfriendly electric range. With the stove method I can get just the right temperature and can not only burn through the gut (using the duller edge) but can put a big flat swedge on the end of the gut with no ugly black char. It's surprising how different a sound one gets from the new fret edge. That old flattened surface can really affect the ringtime and tone and, like the frog in the boiling water, I never notice its arrival. With new frets I'm always surprised at how much less pressure I need w/ my left fingers to get a clean note - energy I'd far prefer to use for accuracy. Just my $.02, Sean *I'm reminded of the old saying: He didn't have time to do it right the first time but he had plenty of time to do it over. On Feb 9, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Dan Winheld wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
I've often heard this but I'm always afraid of creating a pair of flat surfaces on the remaining gut that may not help on the _next_ fret off that spool. To those of you out there who use the hemostats, has this ever been an issue? I maybe be lucky in that I've got enough taper in the lute neck that I only need worry about the tension in the first fret. And then I just grip and pull like hell. Worked as well as usual the other night with that 1.2mm 1st fret: a little bit of lifting at the edge corners but it settles after a while. Sean On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:14 PM, A.J. Padilla MD wrote: Speaking of surgical implements, a hemostat is an absolutely wonderful tool if you want to tie frets. It holds on to the short end and allows you to really pull quite hard for a tight fret, without wasting fretgut. -Original Message- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [[1]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Dan Winheld Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 6:35 PM To: alexander; Herbert Ward Cc: [2]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims. I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu 2. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Why replace the frets when you could just tighten them? Just burn the knot a little more then put back in place. My frets last about ten years. The only time I ever replace frets is to try a different size. Except for perhaps the second or third frets which do wear out after a few years, then you just scoot over the worn part to be between the courses. Sterling Sent from my iPhone On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:35 PM, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
A good point, Sterling. I've rotated frets many times in the past w/ different lutes. If I had a little more freeboard at the edge of the fingerboard and a larger radius chamfer at the edge I could probably make that work. As it is, the right angle bend in the fret (larger ones especially) doesn't flatten out when I rotate it. I also have to be careful not to tie the larger ones too tightly. The sharp bend at the edge can flatten the fret as far as directly under the chanterelle. I'm also up against a very low action to begin with and need graduated frets. Over the 12 years I've had this lute (a Gerle copy) I suspect there's been some dishing of the belly that may have lowered the action further. To counteract this I put a small shim under the nut and use that 1.2 mm first fret. The 2nd fret is 1.05. It's a higher schedule under the first few frets than I'd like but I haven't found a plan B yet. Sean On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:21 PM, Sterling wrote: Why replace the frets when you could just tighten them? Just burn the knot a little more then put back in place. My frets last about ten years. The only time I ever replace frets is to try a different size. Except for perhaps the second or third frets which do wear out after a few years, then you just scoot over the worn part to be between the courses. Sterling Sent from my iPhone On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:35 PM, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Thin guitar picks slid under frets are dynamite shims. Also wadded paper. Many's the corner been ripped off one of my scores to fold a few times and stick under a loose fret. Little pieces of bamboo skewers are also useful. Sent from my Ouija board On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:25 PM, Sterling spiffys84...@yahoo.com wrote: Why replace the frets when you could just tighten them? Just burn the knot a little more then put back in place. My frets last about ten years. The only time I ever replace frets is to try a different size. Except for perhaps the second or third frets which do wear out after a few years, then you just scoot over the worn part to be between the courses. Sterling Sent from my iPhone On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:35 PM, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Indeedaroody. They make good markers, too. Nothing like looking over at a delicate moment and seeing a blur of 20-odd frets. Sean Sent from my iPotato On Feb 9, 2014, at 6:51 PM, John Lenti wrote: Thin guitar picks slid under frets are dynamite shims. Also wadded paper. Many's the corner been ripped off one of my scores to fold a few times and stick under a loose fret. Little pieces of bamboo skewers are also useful. Sent from my Ouija board On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:25 PM, Sterling spiffys84...@yahoo.com wrote: Why replace the frets when you could just tighten them? Just burn the knot a little more then put back in place. My frets last about ten years. The only time I ever replace frets is to try a different size. Except for perhaps the second or third frets which do wear out after a few years, then you just scoot over the worn part to be between the courses. Sterling Sent from my iPhone On Feb 9, 2014, at 4:35 PM, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate changing frets with an abhorrence that defies all reason. My wife knows to get out of the house as fast as possible when she sees me getting out a new set of frets, because she's learned that a few moments later a flurry of frothy-mouthed, red-faced, apoplectic cursing will ensue. I've just never been able to get the hang of fretting. After years of putting frets on multiple instruments, I still usually need to put on every fret two or more times. As I repeatedly clip off unsatisfactory attempts and try again, I watch my supply of available fret gut slowly dwindling and begin to feel a little like James Bond in that scene in Goldfinger when the laser beam is inching up slowly between his legs. (Do you expect me to settle for buzzing notes!? I ask Gutfinger defiantly. No, Mr Wilke, responds Gutfinger with a surplus of glee, I expect you to cancel your concerts because you won't be able to practice properly for weeks without that missing 6th fret gauge you ineptly used up due to your utter incompetence in the Most Skillful Art of Frettery!!! Wow. That was dramatic.) In the I end content myself with frets that bow, sag and wiggle under my fingers like earthworms. I shim even the new ones, but still end up buzzing like a bee and dealing with surprise temperaments. Yes, I know. I'm pathetic. Chris Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A. Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com On Sun, 2/9/14, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: Subject: [LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims. To: alexander voka...@verizon.net, Herbert Ward wa...@physics.utexas.edu Cc: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Sunday, February 9, 2014, 6:35 PM I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
Wow! Somehow, I feel a lot better now! Tom Tom Draughon Heartistry Music http://www.heartistry.com Sent from my iPhone 715-682-9362 On Feb 9, 2014, at 9:44 PM, Christopher Wilke chriswi...@yahoo.com wrote: I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate changing frets with an abhorrence that defies all reason. My wife knows to get out of the house as fast as possible when she sees me getting out a new set of frets, because she's learned that a few moments later a flurry of frothy-mouthed, red-faced, apoplectic cursing will ensue. I've just never been able to get the hang of fretting. After years of putting frets on multiple instruments, I still usually need to put on every fret two or more times. As I repeatedly clip off unsatisfactory attempts and try again, I watch my supply of available fret gut slowly dwindling and begin to feel a little like James Bond in that scene in Goldfinger when the laser beam is inching up slowly between his legs. (Do you expect me to settle for buzzing notes!? I ask Gutfinger defiantly. No, Mr Wilke, responds Gutfinger with a surplus of glee, I expect you to cancel your concerts because you won't be able to practice properly for weeks without that missing 6th fret gauge you ineptly used up due to your utter incompetence in the Most Skillful Art of Frettery!!! Wow. That was dramatic.) In the I end content myself with frets that bow, sag and wiggle under my fingers like earthworms. I shim even the new ones, but still end up buzzing like a bee and dealing with surprise temperaments. Yes, I know. I'm pathetic. Chris Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A. Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com On Sun, 2/9/14, Dan Winheld dwinh...@lmi.net wrote: Subject: [LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims. To: alexander voka...@verizon.net, Herbert Ward wa...@physics.utexas.edu Cc: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Sunday, February 9, 2014, 6:35 PM I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[LUTE] Re: How to cut fret shims.
I find fret shims sometimes useful on my archlute and theorbo, where I don't always get a new fret tight enough before that very short slide up to position. Instead of throwing that new fret out I will shim with wood or rolled thick paper. If older frets become loose but are still serviceable, I may also shim. But new frets make the instruments sound their best. -- R On Feb 9, 2014, at 5:35 PM, Dan Winheld wrote: I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful and time consuming. I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13) is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics. Guys, Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service no spare gut) is another story. I could remove replace 10 gut frets in the time it would take you to whittle a single proper shim out of a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm) piece of anything. That is, single frets. The more traditional doubles (still routinely used by the viol players) would take a little more time. Fret changing is not hard at all, once you've done a few and get into the rhythm of it. Soon you will be getting them so tight that you will have to back off to keep from breaking the thinner ones, and even that big, bad 1st fret will only take the slightest more aggression to make as tight as necessary. Thomas Mace has a pretty good tutorial on frets, as I remember. So does Dan Larson on his website, and no doubt there are others easily available. Catch me at the right time I'll do it for you, and show you how. A cigarette lighter, fingernail clippers, and maybe (strictly optional) a small pliers for the 1st fret. The business with the surgical saw is what I paid a professional luthier to do recently when I had bone body frets put on my lute- frets 10 up. He messed up my 9th 8th frets leveling the new bone frets, and it took me 3 minutes or less to replace them practically under his nose in the shop. Happy fretting! (It almost gets fun) Dan I could whittle with a utility knife, butthat would be wasteful and time consuming. alexander r. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
