Dana, I'm playing a lot of orpharion these days and it has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages. Mine is a Rose orpharion and one of the scollops on the edge is perfectly placed for your right arm to hold it - plus with the flat back it's not as cumbersome as the lute. The neck is longer so between the right arm holding the body of the instrument and the neck, both hands end up being shifted slightly to the left.
All of the above is easy to deal with, but the more challenging part of orpharions is how easy it is to pull those light wire strings out of tune. You need to train your left hand to come down exactly in the right place. You need to train your right hand not to pluck too hard or you get a sound that's like the cross between a lute and a snare drum. However, when you get it right the wire string sing in a delightful way. I love the lush sound you get when the chords really ring out - lots more sustain than my lute. Nancy Carlin >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 Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582 web site - www.nancycarlinassociates.com Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org --
