Another question. It was common until the 1500s to build instruments with a fully carved, one piece body and neck and head, and a flat soundboard. Rebecs all the way to bass rebecs, most of the citole, viol, and other instruments I have seen from the 1300s and 1400s were carved bodied instruments.
The soundpost was an invention of the late 1500s and 1600s. Would it be acceptable to think that a medieval gurdy, from the 1300s to mid 1400s, could be a carved body instrument with no soundposts, a flat top, and moderately heavy bracing (like a viol)? The Crwth, the Citole, the Rebec, all the instruments I have built from that time have been carved bodied instruments, except for the sinphone (and it is simple to see how a straight box would have been built up, but as you get into shaped bodies like the holly leaf or waisted figure 8 bodies of the other instruments, it seems these were carved. With the exception of the lute, and even some early lutes were carved, this seems to be the norm. Would this be within the realm of possibility, or is there some aspect of the carved body design that would make a vielle with this construction impossible? Chris Nogy *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 2/22/2007 at 2:57 PM Chris Nogy wrote: >I went back in my list archives and saw a few years back a discussion of >the HG playing angel musician at LeMans at the Cathedral. > >Try as I might, I can find no images of that player anywhere. But if this >is the earliest depiction of a vielle with a chien, it might be a place to >start designing the physical appearance of the medieval gurdy that will be >my next project. > >If anyone has that image, could you please send it to me? > >Thanks > >Chris Nogy
