>I have found that lutes sound the best at a pitch in which a gut >treble would work. My baroque lute (13 course) is 70.5 mensur, and >the upper limit of gut for a=415 at f is about 68 cm. In other >words, if one increases the mensur at a given pitch, gut will not >work...... it will fray, break prematurely. This is not >fiction.......... there are upper pitch limits for gut, at any size >diameter. > >So, if one wants a gut treble on a baroque lute, at a=415, the >longest it should be is about or around 68 cm. If one wants the >baroque lute to be at a=440, then the longest mensur it should be is >around 64 or 65 cm. , and that would be a small baroque lute.... I >have no knowledge of one ever having exhisted. > >For my mensur, at 70.5, it ideally should be at a=392, but actually, >I leave it somewhere between 392 & 415, and it seems to work well in >that pitch. > >Pitch preference is subjective, for sure. But, when considering >pitch, in my opinion, results are best in gut, and its according >limits should be taken into account.
This is a very practical approach and the proof is in the pudding. I've always felt that the lute is an instrument that is ideally vibrant with tension in a way that the notes just want to spring out. The tension is part of the delicacy and fragility. cheers, -- Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
