The gut should be pre-stretched before fitting. Mace (1676 p 69)
confirms this and provides good practical advice:
' And you will find, that the first Fret, will be ever the hardest to
Tye well on, for two Reasons.
First, because it is the Thickest, therefore not so ready to ply, and
stretch.
2sly. Because there is but a little narrower room above It, by reason
it is so near the Nutt: Therefore you must be the more careful , to
stretch it very well, before you settle It.'
He also recommends tying it higher (ie to wards the nut) and stretching
by forcing down to its alotted position a number of times: 'Thus do it
three or four times, till at last you find it stiff,....'
Finally he suggests a second knot to prevent any possible slipping:
'... you are (after all stretching) to Tye it, of another hard Knot,
and then it is firmly fast'.
MH
--- On Wed, 17/2/10, Christopher Stetson <cstet...@smith.edu> wrote:
From: Christopher Stetson <cstet...@smith.edu>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: New frets
To: "Lute List" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 17 February, 2010, 20:35
Neat tricks, Sterling and Leonard! They've allowed me to yet again
put
off refretting.
While we're here, does any have any tricks for getting and/or
keeping
the 1st fret really tight?
Best to all,
Chris.
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