Maybe a flat-back mandolin. You find them a lot on German ebay... Stephan
Am 16 Nov 2004 um 23:35 hat Stewart McCoy geschrieben: > Dear Garry, > > Did you come to any conclusions about the possibility of luthiers > using Spelk-like planes to run off lute ribs quickly and cheaply? The > thread seemed to get diverted onto something else. > > Many years ago I read somewhere that, if you bought a new guitar (I > forget where), they'd give you a free mandoline to go with it. This > would (I guess) be some time in the early part of the 20th century. > I'm afraid I can't remember any more details. It strikes me, that if > shops could afford to give away a free mandoline with every guitar, > either the guitars were overpriced to accommodate the free offer, or > mandolines were very cheap. If they were cheap, they must have been > made in huge quantities, efficiently, quickly, and at very little > cost. > > I understand very little about the making of instruments, so I would > be interested to know if any makers on the List have any further > thoughts about your Spelk plane hypothesis. It seemed a neat idea. > > Best wishes, > > Stewart McCoy. > > > > And in that vein, is it possible that renaissance and baroque > luthiers could > > have used the predecessor of the Spelk plane (it produces Spelk. > Spelk is a > > thin strip of wood used by the Shakers to make baskets and chair > seats) to > > produce the ribs for lutes? A Spelk plane would be able to cut > strips of > > wood that are both wide enough and thick enough to be used. I > would think > > that it would have been quicker and more cost effective to produce > the rough > > ribs using this method than by cutting up a thin board into > strips. > > > Thoughts? Opinions? > > > Garry > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
