Dear Daniel,
Someone later in theis thread mentioned Martin Shepherd, who hasn't
joined in yet so I'll do it on his behalf: see his article on the subject
on:-
http://www.luteshop.fsnet.co.uk/stringsoctaves.htm
Yours,
Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Shoskes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 9:32 PM
Subject: 5th course: octave or unison?
> I took delivery of my brand new 8 course Frei Renaissance lute, and
> after getting it (slowly) tuned up to modern pitch, I was surprised to
> see that the 5th course was at octaves, rather than the unison I had
> seen on other lutes. I know that 6 course instruments often have the
> bottom 2 courses in octaves, but is there any musical and/or historical
> reason that would drive this decision? I find the sound with the octave
> 5th course unpleasant, especially in runs that involve it, but that may
> be more due to force of habit. In addition, this new lute has a much
> "brighter" sound than what I have been used to (may be the brand new
> strings) and the octave 2nd string seems to accentuate that.
>
> Bottom line, I plan to change to unison stringing on the 5th course, but
> are there circumstances where people prefer the octave?
>
> DS
>
>
>
