Dear David, (cc to the List) you wrote: > Not in an attempt to be authentic, more to be practical. > > I have a 14-course archlute in g', with 7/7 division of strings, so F > still on the fingerboard and lowest course F1. > I often need E and Eb in one piece / recital. > I wanted to lower the string tension of the diapassons anyway. > So I made the following tuning for course 8-14: > E-Eb-D-C-B-A-G
For my Dieffopruchar 1608 chitarrone (86.7/158.7, Timo Kontio 2003) I ordered an extra bass string place and hole, and "enough" pegs in both the pegboxes. My system is now 7 on fingerboard / 8 on the extension. I have the F# in the outermost position, but I have been considering putting it to the "proper place" to get F#, F, E, D, C, B, A, G in the strings 8-15. (I have the G# on the fingerboard.:-) Your experiece sounds promising. On the other hand, now I every now and then can find the basses... Would that happen more rarely after the shift? ;) And I am still missing the Eb... Would Benjamins solution of 19 strings be good? Didn't David van E. make one? What kind of experiences there have been? BTW: When I saw the drawings of the original Dieffopruchar 1608, the string holes were not in a direct line, but some were lower than others. With good imagination one could think that there were lower holes for the chromatic strings and higher for the main notes... Reminding me of the system used in the (chromatic) baroque harps... Could be useful? Just an idea. Lutemakers reading the list, what kind of "hole sets" have you seen while studying the lutes in museums? All the best, Arto To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
