Rob MacKillop
Wed, 07 May 2008 11:55:39 -0700
Heaven forbid! Seriously, from what I've gathered from internet info, the machete in 17thC Madeira might have been wire strung, single strings. One imagines it to have been very small (the one in Edinburgh University, for example, looks like a soprano ukulele), but there is one Portuguese guitar ms which mentions the tuning of the machete, and according to Tyler that seems to be piched at F, only a semitone higher than the guitar/viola. Methinks the name 'machete' served a few instruments of different sizes, but maybe wire strung rather than gut, a sort of smaller battente, Portuguese style. I am only speculating, of course. Does the name 'machete' have anything to do with the knife/axe? Wire strings used for cutting, rather than gut? I hope the machete is not off topic? Rob 2008/5/7 Eugene C. Braig IV <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hmm... Double some strings, and that would seem to be treading > dangerously close to 4-course guitar. > > Eugene > > > At 11:49 AM 5/7/2008, Rob MacKillop wrote: > > Maybe without the raised fingerboard and 19thC guitar bridge? > Rob > > > I think I do too now. That's one of the grooviest uke-like bits I've > seen. Thanks for digging that up. > > Eugene > > -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html