Dear Arto Congratulations on your new 11-course. I am also new to the Baroque lute, but have had my 11c 70 cm Warwick for just over a year, and have had time to gradually change some of my stringing. Unfortunately I just had a double computer failure, and I had lost much of my stored data, but your message has given me a chance to do a little detective work (old bills, etc), and I think I am now sure of the original values, and the changes I have made. In brief : On my 11c Warwick, I now use all gut by Aquila, with Meanes in Aquila Venices, and Basses in Aquila loaded Venices, but the Octaves down from g-7 are also in Aquila Venices. The Octaves are now slightly higher in tension (3.1Kg) than the Basses themselves (2.9Kg). I don't think this is particularly low tension, but nor is it particularly high. However, Venice string types are probably the most flexible, other than Charles Besnainou's "spring" strings, and in this respect behave similarly to low tension strings. I have not yet reached a stable RH position. It seems to depend on the angle of my fingers to the strings. The flatter they are on to the strings, the further back towards the bridge I seem to go. 11c lutes do seem to have wider spacing than 13c lutes, both between courses and within the course, I might now have chosen a slightly closer spacing between courses as this does add to the stretch of a longish 70cm lute. Now, In more detail : Basses: From the beginning, I used the gut strings Stephen Gottlieb put on my lute, including the loaded Venice Basses for which I had specifically asked him. St G had put them on C-11 up to F-8, but then a Gimped Bass on G-7, and a Venice Bass on A-6. This was because he feared that loaded basses would stop down false; but the result was not as homogenous as I would have liked; so I changed these last also for loaded strings with no serious falseness problem and much improved homogeneity (not because Gimped or Venice strings are bad per se). Meanes: St G had put HT Trebles for Meane 4 and 5, but I changed these to Venice Meanes, again to improve the homogeneity with the Venice loaded Basses, and I predicted (I think correctly) that similar string types would work better together ("sympathy"). Octaves & Diapason tension switch: St G had chosen 2.8Kg HT octaves with 3kg Venice loaded Basses and had strung my lute at 415Hz. I really wanted a diapason nearer 392Hz, so as to have thicker treble strings (at least 0,44, rather than 0.42); but not wanting to throw away the loaded strings, I lowered the diapason to 407Hz (the lowest I could acheive with the rather slack loaded strings) My loaded strings then became a rather low 2.9Kg, or 2.85Kg (at 407Hz). But to copensate for this drop in tension at the level of the course, I then replaced all the octaves with values worth about 3Kg to 3.1Kg (at 407Hz). So that from Bass at 3Kg and Octave at 2.8Kg, I now had Bass at 2.9Kg and Octave at 3.1Kg. This works really well. The octaves then became the "leading" string of the course; but as at the same time I swapped all the Octave HTs (from g-7 to c-11) for Venice Meane strings (see Mace), the leading tone became that of the Meanes creating a beautiful homogeneity from the Basses through to the Meanes. Also, all tendency for the Octaves to buzz with the loaded basses disappeared. I Approximate values and strings chosen by my Lute Maker: 70 cm a'=414 Hz, f1) 0.42 treble gut 4Kg d-2 0.50 treble gut 4Kg a-3 0.58 treble gut 2.9Kg F-4 0.72 HT gut 2.9Kg D-5 0.86V HT gut 2.9kg a-6 0.56 HT treble gut 2.8Kg A-6 1.2 Venice Aquila 3Kg g-7 0.64 HT treble gut 2.8Kg Octave G-7 1.32 Gimped gut 3Kg Gamut f-8 0.64 HT treble gut 2.8Kg F-8 1.46 Venice Aquila 3Kg e-9 0.76 HT treble gut 2.8Kg E-9 1.6C loaded Aquila 3Kg d-10 0.86 HT treble gut 2.8Kg D-10 1.8C loaded gut 3Kg c-11 0,96 HT treble gut 2.8Kg C-11 1.96C loaded gut 3Kg II The final values and string types adopted: 70 cm a'=407 Hz, all Aquilla f1 0.44 treble gut (4.2Kg) d-2 0.52 treble gut (4Kg) A-3 0.60 treble gut x2 3Kg F-4 0.76V gut (twice) 3Kg D-5 0.91V gut (twice) 3kg a-6 0.58 treble gut 3 Kg A-6 1.24C Venice loaded 2.9Kg g-7 73V Venice Meane gut 3kg G-7 140c Venice loaded 2.9Kg f-8 0,82 Venice Meane gut 3kg F-8 1.46C Venice loaded 2.9Kg e-9 0.88 Venice Meane gut 3K9 E-9 1.6C Venice loaded 2.9Kg d-10 97 Venice Meane gut 3Kg D-10 1.8C Venice loaded gut 2.9Kg c-11 108 Venice Meane gut 3Kg C-11 1.96C Venice loaded gut 2.9Kg Best wishes to you and your new lute Anthony Dear baroque lutenists, I'm starting with a new (well, used 1993 Lars Joensson) 11-course baroque lute, string length 68cm . One of the problems with a new type of lute is the tone production. And what makes it tricky is that the playing technique and string properties are connected in many ways. And when there are more than one parameters that can be changed, it can be very time consuming to check the many alternatives available. To make my life easier I would like to make a poll to you, who have more or less solved this question in a way suitable to you. So some questions: 1) What string tensions you use? Do you use the same throughout? Or more to the 2 singles? Or less to the octaves of the basses? Or some progressive pattern? 2) What string materials you prefer? What materials you actually use? 3) Do you use your right hand as for ex. Mouton in the famous painting, near the bridge, or nearer the rose as many of the "big names" of today do? 4) Any other important issues and advice in stringing a d-m-lute, especially 11c.? Thanks in advance! Arto
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