Having now read Gordon's message I think he is making some very valid points.
Recently I was able to borrow a cittern for a few months and the advantages of a re-entrant tuning were immediatly obvious as soon as I began to play (rather badly) with a plectrum. If you are strumming chords it doesn't matter if the lowest sounding course is in the middle but having treble strings outermost makes the playing of a single melodic line with up and down strokes of the plectum much easier and cleaner. The fact that the first and second courses on the cittern are tuned a tone apart also makes it easy to play passages in thirds with a plectrum. Otherwise two part playing is almost impossible. Until the late 15th century most plucked stringed instruments in Western Europe were played with a plecturm and I suspect - although there is no documentary evidence for this - that re-entrant tunings may have been common. The idea that they are some how inferior is really just 21st century prejudice. They are just a different approach to playing the instrument. Best to all Monica -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
