----- Original Message ----- From: Jon Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Arto Wikla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Lute Net <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 11 November 2003 07:57 Subject: Re: Languages and strings
<snip> > The instrument is seven courses, one chanterelle and six paired. The nut is > 57 mm wide, I have set the separation between the courses at 5 mm, and the > separation between the pairs at 2.5 mm (that is approximate, but it is about > all I could do with 57mm to work with. The bridge end is 100mm, with the > course separation 11mm and the pair separation 5mm. The vibrating length is > 25 inches (63cm). My usual spacings, based on historical instruments, would be wider at the nut and narrower at the bridge, with course centres at the nut about 7.5mm and a total string band at the bridge of about 90mm. But no matter, it's nice to have lots of room at the bridge end and at least you have not followed the pattern of the lute makers of the 1960s who went for very wide spacing at the nut and very narrow at the bridge. By the way, the within-course spacing at the bridge usually varies from just under 5mm for the second course to around 6mm for the seventh. > > Second question, stringing. The set I received with the kit is from > LaBella - and specifically for lute (the strings have had the hard surface > shaved). The upper four monofiliment courses (shaved diameter) are, from the > g chanterelle on down, .022in, .028in, .032in, and .038in (.56mm, .71mm, > .81mm, and .965mm respectively - if my calculation is correct). They seem to > play well. The lower three courses (C, G and F) are brass wound nylon. They > are .028, .033, and .038 with the winding (.71, .84, and .965 mm's > respectively). Here I have a problem. You certainly do! The monofilament strings are very thick compared to what would be appropriate on a "historical" lute. I don't know how thick the top of your instrument is, though, so it may be it needs lots of tension to work - but in any case the sound and feel of such high tension stringing is going to be very different from a lute. Just to give you some idea, a lute soundboard would typically be between 1.0 and 1.5mm thick (thinner in the middle and around the rose, thicker at the edges and at the neck end); and strings (gut) would be about .42mm for the 1st course, .48mm for the second, .62mm for the third, and .76mm for the fourth. You may not want to use gut, but diameters for nylon would only be about 10% more. In fact you'd be better off using PVF or nylgut for 3rd and 4th courses, as nylon is very unsatisfactory at larger diameters. For LaBella wound strings, I don't know how to translate from actual diameters to "equivalent" diameters, but from what I've seen of them they're not good strings anyway. I prefer copperwound strings, but you might be better using Pyramid, in which case guages might be 1010 for 5th course, 1018 for 6th (plus .64 gut octave), 1020 + .72 for 7th at a tone below 6th, or 1026 + .84 for a fourth below 6th. If your instrument needs higher tension than a "normal" lute, these sizes would give too low tension. It's more or less impossible to use the same string for the 7th whether it is tuned to F or D - a minor third is a long way! In the end, you have to experiment to find what seems like a reasonable tension and balance of sound for each course. Good luck! Martin
