I still distinctly remember the misery that Guy Marchand went through
on a 145mm axe.
The situation comes up at fairly regular intervals, so I'll stand by
what I wrote.
The pegbox distortion viz bridge situation was discussed with 2
reputable luthiers.
RT
On 10/15/2014 3:45 PM, Matthew Daillie wrote:
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, "[1]r.turov...@gmail.com"
<[2]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 -
[3]http://polyhymnion.org/swv/theaxe.html
Reply publicly!
RT
To get on or off this list see list information at
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--
References
1. mailto:r.turov...@gmail.com
2. mailto:r.turov...@gmail.com
3. http://polyhymnion.org/swv/theaxe.html
4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
