I have in front of me a picture of Hopkinson Smith, described in the flyer
for a concert as the best player in the world by the San Francisco
Chronical. I'm lazy on my mail so missed the concert at Princeton (and we
all know that the best is always what a flyer says).
But the photo shows what appears to be a ten course lute with the top five
being single. The shape is definitely similar to the Hieber/Renaissance
shape, down to the little teeth edging into the body/soundboard. He seems
to play Dowland in that concert, and I'll not guarantee that the top five
courses are single, it is a bad photo.
Here is the question. The pegboard is something I haven't seen, although the
angle of the photo is such that I can't be sure. The pegboard isn't slotted
in the classical way, but the pegs come from the sides rather than through
(as in the pre-Renaissance). The pegboard is at the classic @90 deg. angle
to the fingerboard. But the anomaly I see is a diagonal line of nubbins
running from near the nut on the chanterelle side to the end of the pegboard
at the bass side. They don't encompass all the strings. If I had to guess
I'd say that the central strings were making a 90 degree turn off those
nubbins in order to make the passage over the nut direct. But I can't see
the pins for the wind of the strings, it could be that they come back down
and wind on the top of the pegs.
If anyone has a thought on this I'd like to know, and I've got the promo
photo and will attach it to anyone that wants to look. It looks like an
interesting way to set the strings.
Best, Jon
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