Hi Paul,
I have a 10c lute of 66cm scale. The highest I can take it with a
nylon chanterelle (the strongest material) is f# at A440 - and that's
really pushing it. I normally keep it at f. Even at f, with a nylgut
chanterelle, it tends to break quite frequently, which is why I use
nylon for that one string. Of course f at A440 is the same as g at
A392 and as I normally play it solo it doesn't matter a bit.
It makes no difference how thick or thin the chanterelle is (for a
given material), it will always tend to break at the same pitch, so
substituting a string of different diameter won't help. So the problem
isn't one of overstressing the lute if you tune it at A440, it's the
impossibility of finding a string material for the chanterelle to take
that pitch.
For the record, A415 is a semitone down from A440 and A392 is a whole
tone down from A440.
Hope that helps!
Bill
From: Paul Daverman <daverman.p...@sbcglobal.net>
To: lute-buil...@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Tuesday, 1 January 2013, 20:02
Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Pitch center on a 10 cs. lute
I am building a 10 cs. lute per Robert Lundberg's plans (10-cs
Renaissance Lute, Dieffopruchar 1612). I am to the point where I
have
begun looking at strings so that I have an idea of diameters, etc.
As
this is my first lute build, I am looking at Nylgut and am looking to
tune to AD0. One of the suppliers to which I have inquired has said
that in A440 tuning, they have no strings at 65cm length that can
take
the tension for the chanderelle (and that no gut could either.) He
said that the instrument was probably meant for A92 and while he
could
supply strings in either tuning, I'd have to look elsewhere for a
string for the chanderelle if I chose A440.
I am wondering if any of you can talk to this topic. Would I be over
stressing the lute if I tune to the modern tuning of A440? Would
A392
have been the intended tuning or maybe A415? What other
repercussions
of tuning one way vs. another should I know about? My music theory
is
a bit poor - is the difference between going from A440 tuning to A392
really any different that transposing down a (??) major second? Any
word to help get all this straight in my mind would be appreciated.
While I understand that "pitch" is all relative, I'm having a
difficult
time getting my arms around the practical understanding of what I
should do for stringing. Thanks.
Paul
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