Thank you. I was specifically asking about the string height on the 6
string guitar c 1800-1830 with fixed metal frets - not lutes or other
guitars. If you have any experience of this particular instrument I'd
be grateful for your views.
MH
--- On Sat, 20/4/13, Azalais <azal...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Azalais <azal...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] Early romantic guitaRe: string height
To: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Saturday, 20 April, 2013, 19:46
It varies by instrument. On some I have gut frets and on some metal,
and the lengths vary from 480mm to an archlute! One of the lowest is
a lightly tensioned vihuela, and on that one there is about 3mm
clearance between the top of the gut fret and the bottom of the string.
(I have more trouble with double courses hitting each other and have
had to re-drill bridges to increase string to string widths, when I
wanted to use low tension twisted basses.)
I have several mid-length vihuelas and baroque guitars (shorter than
650mm) that can be tuned to E or G... At E (aA5) a few of them do
rattle occasionally but that vanishes when I have them tuned to G with
a bit more tension.
On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Martyn Hodgson
<[1]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Thank you. Out of interest, what depression distance (or 'action' if
you prefer this measurement) have you got on the first string at 12
fret?
MH
--- On Sat, 20/4/13, Azalais <[2]azal...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Azalais <[3]azal...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] Early romantic guitaRe: string height
To: "Martyn Hodgson" <[4]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Saturday, 20 April, 2013, 17:09
Before physically modifying the guitar, you might want to experiment
with using slightly higher tension strings. I've had very good luck
with Seaguar fluorocarbon fishing line, which has the same mass as gut
(similar tension at a given diameter), and it comes in many diameters.
(Use the gut setting in the string calculator to find the right
diameter)
You could also experiment by adding one or more thin strips of white
index card material under the nut.
Az
On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 10:05 AM, Martyn Hodgson
<[5]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
> I'd be grateful if players of the early six string guitar (say,
1800 -
> 1830) could let me know what string height they find best on the
> instrument. To be specific: by string height I mean the distance
> required to depress the string to the fingerboard (not to the top
of
> the fret - the usual 'action' measurement) at the 12th fret, for
both
> the first and sixth string.
>
> I've fairly recently dug out my Grobert copy for a few shows and,
as I
> start to pluck harder, I find I'm getting some string rattles
(possibly
> on adjacent frets) in the lower positions (ie on frets 1 to 5) on
the
> first and second strings. Whether or not the belly has sunk I
don't
> know (it doesn't seem to have done) but the depressing distance
(as
> described above) of the first string at the 12th fret is only
3.0mm
> which seems low by modern guitar standards. The frets are about
0.9mm
> high so the 12th fret 'action', if you prefer that measure, is
only
> some 2.1mm. Clearly this all makes for ease of playing in the
higher
> positions - but at the expense of some string rattles.
>
> So in making the necessary adjustments it would be interesting to
know
> what others use on similar instruments. My first thoughts are to
> heighten the bridge saddle to increase the depression distance of
the
> first string at the 12th fret to between 3.5 and 4.0mm (ie an
'action'
> of between 2.6 and 3.1mm).
>
> MH
>
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azal...@gmail.com
3. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=azal...@gmail.com
4. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
5. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
