I agree that the ordinary 5 course 'baroque' guitar can be loud.
Are there any extant theorboes/archlutes or early records of such with
extended basses of string length only 90/100cm?
MH
--- On Sun, 19/7/09, David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Chitarra atiorbata/Guitarre theorbee
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Sunday, 19 July, 2009, 8:52 PM
On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 5:51 PM, Martyn
Hodgson<[1]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Has anyone actually played one of these
> instruments in with a basses of length only around 90cm (as seems
to be
> depicted) and with plain gut (and no octave doubling as on the
liuto
> attiorbato
Not a guitar.
I have a smallish 440Hz archlute 61/106cm, going to low G' with single
plain gut basses. Good sound, no problem. Yes, my 140-something-cm
theorbo is better, and I'm sure a 200cm theorbo is even better - size
does matter - but still, 106cm to low G' is good enough for most
practical purposes. It depends a little on what I want to play with
it: Monteverdi with a full orchestra and choir is possible, but
obviously not ideal. The top is more of a problem there, by the way,
the basses are strong enough. Delicate solo playing, quite nicely in
balance with the top of the instrument. Solo singer in a not too big
concert hall or church, no problem. But indeed, not the depth or
sustain of the 140cm theorbo. It has a less relaxed feel to it, when
I'm aiming at a similar level of volume, is perhaps the best way of
describing it.
Point is, 106cm is quite ok for low single basses in plain gut. 90cm
is a bit shorter, but fiddle with tuning and/or pitch, and it might
not be that far removed.
David - baroque guitar with just five coures, but boy, can that be
loud!
--
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www.davidvanooijen.nl
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References
1. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
2. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=davidvanooi...@gmail.com
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