Hi Tony, It's strange, I sent this to the list a few days ago and it suddenly popped up. Maybe my server is acting up again.
I'm not sure how old the idea of adding that extra gourd to the sitar neck is but it probably came from much older Indian instruments such as the Rudra Vina which has two resonators. My old Hemen sitar really did benefit from that upper gourd, particularly in the Bass and in the overall "presence" of tone, and it does make the instrument easier to balance. As to lutes and guitars, as Michael Thames put it earlier " I've always told guitarist's that the neck can make or break an instrument." I would definitely trust his experience on that matter. The barring is also critically important, given that it not only contributes to the function of the soundboard but greatly to it's stability. I've built both harps and guitars and it seems less important what the back and sides are made of versus how they are made;( ....within reason....I wouldn't make guitar sides of delrin or concrete!) I.e. that they are of the right thickness to resonate and still be strong enough to support to the soundboard seems the real key. Chad ----- Original Message ----- From: Tony Chalkley<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: lute<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 4:51 PM Subject: Re: Built-in action? Double frets > So maybe as the fret and string have better purchase, the neck will > send that energy to the body? I'm tempted to think that one end would > cancel out the other but on the other hand, the bridge would vibrate up > and down (relative to the bridge) while the neck would forward and back > (relative to the bridge). Dear Sean and Chad, I didn't take in the original message well enough to reply - I was taught (in other words, I have no personal opinion on the matter), that the material and build of a guitar neck is far more important than those of the back and ribs of the instrument, in terms of tone production. This would support what you are saying. As far as the upper gourd on a sitar is concerned, I have recently read that it is a relatively recent affair and of little value - the upside of this is that I have decided not to try and add one to mine - I couldn't sork out how to do it easily. Yours, Tony To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html<http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html> --
