Hello Lutenetters! After about one year of experimenting with gut, I've come to realise that, actually, I know precious little detail about the historical types of strings mentioned above, and just how they relate (and indeed, if they do!) to the modern gut strings with the same titles. Does anybody out there know? (ahem, ahem, Mimmo, are you still out there? Martin???)
I realise the question of stringing really is the $64,000 question (if indeed, I have the sum right - the game show offered some significant remuneration at any rate), and that the poverty of knowledge about such historical types is perhaps the most pressing lacuna concerning historical performance on the lute to date. I have read Mace and Varietie, amongst other historical sources, that deal with stringing in order to better understand what was going on then - but I find the information I have been able to glean lacking in precision. What soures are today's stringmakers reading? Am I missing something? I have also visited various stringmaking sites such as Gamut and Aquila - but here too I find the description of historical string types to be lacking, as too is the clarity between the historical types and their modern appellative heirs. So, if anyone could tell me (that is, if it is known/or at least what is known) about these historical types and their modern equivalents I'd be well pleased! I'm sure that if anyone knows, anyone will be on this list! All best! Benjamin To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
