Rob, you've recorded Scottish music on a diatonic Ren. cittern played with the fingers, right? I think what Stuart says makes sense, but there are other factors, too. One, the 18th-c cittern sounds great when played with a pick but rather harsh when played with nails, at least in my experience, yet many Portuguese guitarists use nails, or false one if theirs aren't strong enough. Then again, the modern PG is far more robust. It's Rutherfoord, by the way, who talks about Mandarins.
It wasn't just citterns that were changing - "improvements" were always being made; some of them stuck, some didn't. Greater sonority seems to have been a common desire, as well as greater flexibility, a greater range of color. The chordal tuning actually has a bass, so that also may have been a factor, but here we see the chicken and the egg - perhaps the increase in depth instigated tuning options. No question, though, that the 18th-c cittern is more "guitar-like" that the Renaissance version. Doc To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
