----- Original Message ----- From: sterling price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Stewart McCoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 05 January 2004 04:25 Subject: Re: Double 1st
> Weren't many re-entrant theorbos strung with a double > first? And especially bass lutes? I have been wanting > to try a theorbo with all double courses. I have heard > that they were more common historicaly than now. > Sterling Price > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 > http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 > > Dear Sterling, With a reentrant tuning there would be no reason not to have a double first, and indeed most surviving Italian theorboes have 6 double courses on the fingerboard and 8 single basses. This is in contrast, as you say, to the modern fashion of having single strings throughout (and often 7 courses on the fingerboard). One exception seems to be Castaldi, who is pictured in his book with a single-strung (and very small) theorbo. French theorboes are thought to have been single-strung (evidence from iconography) and Mace's English theorbo was double strung throughout, like his lute (though there are plenty of arguments to be had about whether there was a difference between the two and if so, what it was - if my memory serves me correctly they both had 12 courses). With normal lute tuning there is plenty of evidence from surviving instruments and iconography showing double firsts. The original Venere lute which I used as a model (Vienna, C36) seems to have its original bridge, with 7 courses, all double. The same is true of the treble lute in the same collection (C39) with a 44cm string length, though in this case there is doubt about the originality of the bridge. The Liuto Attiorbato by Matteo Sellas in the V&A, London has 14 pegs in the lower pegbox, so 7 double courses on the fingerboard. A century earlier there is no shortage of paintings showing 6c lutes with a double first - in fact it would be interesting to know just what proportion of paintings of 6c lutes show single/double firsts - has anyone looked at this? Best wishes, Martin
