Hi all, I think it is necessary to look at the music, too. English or Scottish Folk songs could be played even nowadays very easily on the English Guittar. But try Portuguese music on it and you'll break your fingers. The modern tuning of the G.P.was developed for music the Portuguese are used to. And the tuning of the lower strings in Octaves is not a 'modern' idea, but a very old one, isn't it? It is an idea they definetely couldn't get directly from the English Guittar. The tuning of the lower strings in Octaves has vanished in the nowadays German instruments, including the Swiss!
And, as Ron points out, da Leite wrote a tutor for English guittar, not for the guittara portuguesa, and it would easily lead to wrong conclusions, if the translation of da Leite is connected with modern terminology. The difference between Porto style portuguese guitar and Coimbra style indicates two root lines, too. Martina -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
