Harlan, I have built and re-fretted a bunch of period instruments (romantic and renaissance guitars, and lutes) and it is likely you will need a few gauges of gut for the frets (gamut strings is the easiest place to get them). If the action is low the first three/four frets will need to be stepped down (ex: 1mm .95mm .90mm .85 to end). A higher action off the bridge will allow you to avoid this step down, but will change the playing action and potentially the sound.
There is more then one opinion on this and many builders try for a single gauge and end up scaling down to avoid buzzing off lower frets when the instrument is first strung up. This all assumes the soundboard/neck to fingerboard angle is held at 0 degrees when built. Any change in this dramatically effects the action and all bets are off. If you have other questions get in contact. Blair On Jan 20, 2011, at 11:59 AM, Harlan Glotzer wrote: > Hello all, > > I have recently joined this list and it is great. I am gearing up to build > my first baroque guitar and am getting more and more excited by the day > waiting for the plan (Ashmolean 1642 Rene Voboam). I have built instruments > before so I am no stranger to working with wood (and a friend of mine is a > luthier so I should be able to get some of my questions fielded). > > Two questions, however, that seem to elude me concern frets and strings. Do > I need to gauge my frets as I move up the neck? Or can I just use a fixed > gauge of gut/nylon/etc? > > The other is a more performance oriented question. What stringing/tuning > scheme would you suggest for a beginner? I seem go be most drawn to the > Spanish music, but am a complete beginner on the guitar, and I'm also afraid > the Spanish tuning will limit what I can play (I'd like to experiment with > new/modern music as well). What tuning/stringing do you prefer and why? > > Any advice on building, fretting, tuning, and the playing of the baroque > guitar would be most helpful. > > Thanks! > Harlan > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
