I must not have been clear in what I said. > 27N isn't that too thin? and wouldn't it be a little loose? (unless you > want your 63 cm lute tuned to G..?)
My question on 27 Newtons had to do with my 36cm charango (that I'm using as a mandora/vihuela). I'm afraid I confused the issue by mentioning the 63.5 cm lute - but those are my comparisons for treble sound. > If it were up to me, i'd tune a 63 cm lute to F or lower with nothing > thinner than 0.37 mm for the chaterelle. but, all kinds of tastes... The 63.5cm lute plays well in a g' tuning using .44 nylon for the chanterelle (about 35 Newtons), but Nylgut and gut won't hold that pitch without breaking. (As has been noted, the guage doesn't define the breaking pitch, the material does). The real question was the musical value of tension given the VL. My limited experience indicates that a shorter VL has a better sound when not stressed as much. > What if strings were not cilindrical but conical, then one would really have > a field day figuring out the right gauges, fretting, pitches, etc:) Well I guess they once were, in a sense, when manufacture wasn't consistant. > At least, in such a case one good thing would be probable: that such a string > may amplify the fibration input. > I have two bagpipes, one with cilindrical chanter and one with conical (scottish highland). > The vibrations that come out of the conical are loud as hell--sound lenses..lol There is a difference between strings and wind instruments. In fact the difference between a generic horn and a generic trumpet is whether it is cylindrical or conical (neglecting the "bell"). The "horn" is conical, the "trumpet" cylindrical. I'll not get into the ramifications here (no pun intended on the "ram"). But with strings the sound is propagated differently. A "conical" string would be interesting, it might make somewhat of a mess of the overtone series. But within a range all strings have an average density/mass (yes, the density can vary in the manufacture as well as the guage), but that can't be heard. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
