>> If you get anything other than a 6 course lute, will it ruin your >> guitar >> playing?
depends. I found it difficult to keep straight the same repetoire on both instruments; lute and guitar have similar intervals between courses, the 'not exactly' similarities of chords, scale progressions, parallel thirds et al will drive you batty at first. Right hand technique differs subtly in respect of the string tensino difference. >> Is a 6 course easier to play than 7-8 course? depends on the repetoire. Music written for a 10c can often be played on a smaller instrument, but not with the same ease. An 8c insturment might have a larger shell than a 6c; it will probably also haev a wider neck. Bass resonance will differ, instrument weight will differ. A 6c lute in 'a' will have a shorter neck than one in 'g'; it will usually be found more facile for music with occaisional chords and mostly monophonic passages up high. My plan is to eventually have several instruments, the 8c I now own. a six-course 'a' lute, orpharion, and bandora will complete the list. The last too being wire-strung, fixed-fret lute equivalents. Sometimes those movable tied-on frets loosen, slip and become, um, awkward... -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
