OK, You are all stuck with me again. I love the term "overpressure", it reminds me of its use in explosions - and the possibility of becoming deaf from the explosion of Rock music.
But that is not why I write. Arto and other came from the guitar, and so did I (but I think a quite different guitar, mine was using it as a finger pickin' background to traditional music). But on the guitar one does press to the fingerboard, and my flat back has thick wooden frets (a compromise with the low lying metal and the tied gut of the traditional). Having now strung it and played it I've discovered that it has a range of pressure (that can bend a note). Is the traditional tied gut lute one where the pressure (action) is a matter of range (not going all the way to the board, or even being able to), or should the action be low? And what did Arto mean by "strong notes", I think my hands can tell me what he meant by "strong fingers". I think he may be suggesting that I soften the action in the treble while leaving it a bit stiffer in the lower registers. One of the advantages of my non-traditional lute is that I can do that (a bit of sandpaper on the fixed wooden frets, a bit of sanding to angle the bridge saddle, and a small file on the nut). The guitar has a relatively equal action on all the strings, but I can see an advantage to a stiffer action in the bass on my lute, in my three days of playing it. I was playing six string lute pieces quite well on the retuned guitar, but they have been a bit of effort on the new lute - in part the different finger spacing (to be expected) and in part the extra pressure in the treble where the little finger spends a lot of its time. Best, Jon
