Actually there is another solution to this. You’ll probably all think that I am crazy, but I’ll suggest it anyway since it is used by some guitar makers when crafting the nut, and might be applicable to lutes.
On my classical guitar (yes, I confess that I do actually play one occasionally...) I find that the biggest tuning ‘problem’ is the 3rd (thickest nylon) string. It’s the one that tends to be a little sharp. You get the instrument perfectly in tune for a C major chord only to find that the G sharp of an E major chord is too sharp, and so on as you go up the 3rd string. I solved the problem by putting a small tastino about 1/8th inch in front of the nut. In fact its a bit of a toothpick wedged under the string. What is does is shorten the distance from the nut to the frets, so that all the fretted notes will be flattened slightly (compared to the other strings). On a lute with double courses, you could do the same for the string (whether it be the fundamental or the octave) which goes sharper that the other. Best Miles > On Feb 28, 2017, at 8:53 PM, fournierbru <fournier...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Getting exact same tension between fundamental and octave is next to > impossible and ludicrous. Of course that wouldn't have been a > possibility In the Renaissance and lutes must certainly have been out > of tune..but our modern ear wants otherwise. My strings are not THAT > much different in tension..the elasticity of the loaded nylgut is the > main culprit..my options are going back to wound on the courses in > octaves that are on the fingerboard or go for unions and adjust the > frets. > > BRUNO > > Sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada's largest network. > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Dan Winheld <dwinh...@lmi.net> > Date: 2017-02-28 8:07 PM (GMT-05:00) > To: Miles Dempster <miles.demps...@gmail.com>, lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > Subject: [LUTE] Re: basses in octaves > > On 2/28/2017 4:06 PM, Miles Dempster wrote: > "Maybe it could help if the octave is closer in tension to the > fundamental." > Bingo!- Miles wins. It became a custom to string lutes with absurdly > slack octaves early in the lute re-Renaissance, as they were > functionally useless; the overspun basses already being so overly heavy > on the harmonics. Until we started seriously playing with gut basses we > didn't even actually know the true purpose of the octave strings. (I > know I didn't!) We now know that the gut octaves must be the same > tension as the fundamentals for the whole system to work sonically & > intonationally. > But if those new ones really are going flat going up the neck, yes > that's a deal breaker on any fingered bass courses. I have not yet > tried the new CD loadeds- it sure seems counter intuitive that the > thick string would go flat as it frets up the fingerboard (if it is not > false!). Too flexible- very interesting- are we stringing to loosely? I > remember attempting to use thick, stiff, low twist harp strings back in > the 1970's for lute basses- what a disaster! > Any other experiences from players using these? Not willing to pull the > trigger yet for 7 B-lute bass strings and 4 10 course lute bass strings > until this is sorted out. > Dan > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
