OK, all the talk about experimenting with and playing in different temperaments has got me thinking about other instruments.
I just finished an electro-accoustic Germanic Rote, the original of which was dated to 581 AD. Probably not tuned in equal temperament. But was it tuned pythagorean, or some other form? There are some real temperament experts here, and this instrument, since it is not stopped or fretted, seems like a perfect way to experiment. It has 6 strings, all open without any fretting (I can get some intervals in the way a Jouhiko is stopped, and I can draw a primary harmonic at 50% of the string, but it is not a fretted or stopped instrument) It is tuned pentatonic, A3, C4, D4, E4, G4, A4 I use a Korg Chromatic tuner to tune it, and I think that since it contains both a 4th and a seventh, which if I understand are the most different between modern equal and older just temperaments, I will need to do small adjustments. I am tuning equal at A4 = 440, and my tuner will let me see cents and is accurate (I can tune by pludding the instrument in, so I avoid outside noises). Can someone give me a cents difference for each note that would put this instrument into a temperament that would be plausible for the time period that it comes from? Or help me to figure out how to develop that set of values? Thanks Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 4/15/2008 at 3:55 PM Oscar Picazo Ruiz wrote: Beware if you use shrinking tube when applying a lighter... the heat may fuse the core of synthetic strings; apply little heat several times until the tube shrinks to fit.... I ruined one (expensive) string like that. 2008/4/11 Arle Lommel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: You are of course correct that they aren't the same although it's inconsequential for this particular point: real gut or synthetic gut are both flexible and won't break when going over the ear. The contrast is against a metal core, which can break in this manner. I actually use both, depending on the particular string, for the same reason. -Arle On Apr 11, 2008, at 12:39 PM, Simon Wascher wrote: Hello, Am 11.04.2008 um 04:56 schrieb Arle Lommel: I switch to a wound synthetic gut string Am 11.04.2008 um 13:11 schrieb Arle Lommel: On the other hand, using a gut core also prevents the problem. I think it would be helpfull to distinguish between the synthetic strings that are used as replacement for gut and real gut. Otherwise the wrong imression may occure to the unexperienced reader that it is gut, as in real gut. Simon
