If one plays several instruments, having them similar might be a consideration for bridge spacing. Bream had his lute the same scale as his guitar, I believe. My Ren lute is my main instrument. I have no problem with my right hand when playing my archlute because the spacing is not that different on the top 7 strings from my Ren lute, but I never have gotten comfortable with my Baroque lute because I always hit the 6th string when I intend to hit the 5th. Well not always, but the spacing is so narrow I have to play it exclusively for some time to get used to it. On the archlute, I dont mind the narrow spacing of the lower 7, but of course they are single.
I think different people are going to have different choices with spacing and people can adapt to narrow or wide spacing. It may take time. I had my archlute spacing narrowed because I simply could not hit certain notes together. However, I think if I would have hung on another year or two, I might have gotten used to stretching more. Also, looking at some of the narrow vihuela and lute spacings in pictures makes me really wonder about what R.H. techniques were in use. On Oct 16, 2014, at 5:41 AM, Dan Winheld <dwinh...@lmi.net> wrote: > Damn, I would have put money on a scenario involving a furious Papazian owner > losing a $5,000 sale to a buyer that your article would have warned off. > (Those things will take your left hand off at the wrist faster than a Pirhana > in the bathtub if you attempt a barre chord. I speak from personal > experience.) > > 13 course spacing at the bridge? My own Robert Lundberg original is exactly > 150, on the nose. Works perfectly for me. One of my Baroque lute students > (Burkholtzer copy) has about 155, feels like "A Bridge too Far" to me, > playing 12th & 13 w/thumb, & top 3 courses w/ima- but preferable to too > narrow. My other Baroque lute student also has a Burkholtzer copy by the same > builder has a much narrower spacing, (his exact specs to the builder) too > narrow for me and everyone else who has ever tried it (including Nigel North) > but he is perfectly comfortable, never misses a note because of the spacing. > Has large hands, too. > > On spacing, general guidelines yes, kind of, but a very personal thing, so > YMMV. The string spacing at the bridge on the original Chambure Vihuela is > apparently much too narrow for virtually anyone; both Barber-Harris & Dan > Larson only offer it as a cautionary option. Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www.youtube.com/user/edurbrow?feature=watch https://soundcloud.com/ed-durbrow http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
