Hi Roman, Well, we've had this discussion before but I really can't agree on your minimum width for a 13-course lute. In paragraph 3 you say ' Make sure the bridge is not too narrow, ideally in the vicinity of 155mm between the 1st and the 13th course. If it measures only 145mm - stay away. Your thumb will be very sorry, and rather useless. Personally I think that 145 mm is a very comfortable spacing and anything over 150 mm quickly becomes unmanageable. Overall width is just one factor, and the distance between individual courses and the strings of each course is another. I have played a well set-up lute with a bridge space of 140 mm which felt very natural. People have different techniques and preferences so I don't think such a sweeping statement can be left unquestioned, especially when, as David Van Edwards points out, there is so much variety in historical bridge spaces.
As for the action recommendations in paragraph 4, I agree that anything above 4mm at the 8th fret is to be avoided, but some very well set-up lutes can have an action as low as 2.8 mm and not buzz even when played powerfully. Here again I feel that one has to bring other factors into account such as how true the fingerboard is, it's thickness and width, how it is fretted and how the dishing is built into the soundboard. Paragraph 6 deals with the problems with swan-neck lutes. It is almost inevitable that even the best made of these models often have the upper neck pull up and twist over time, it is pretty much inherent in the design and can require remedial work (such as a new upper nut, for example). I have never heard of that pulling a bridge off though. Best Matthew On 15 oct. 2014, at 17:30, "r.turov...@gmail.com" <r.turov...@gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Collective Wisdom, > Recently I had a few unpleasant conversations with some lute sellers, whose > sales were thwarted by the advice given by me. > Therefore I've decided to update and revise an old article of mine to reflect > the practicalities of buying used lutes. So now I'm canvassing > for ideas that can be added to it - > http://polyhymnion.org/swv/theaxe.html > Reply publicly! > RT > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
