Sorry but I gotta weigh in with an anecdote. In the late sixties I was a music major at the University of Texas and was desperately trying to play cello in the school orchestra. Bloody awful but I was game. Anyway, a friend (a rather good oboe player who often gigged with the Dallas Symphony) introduced me to a cellist who had a Strad cello, the real thing. It was in pretty good shape for a 400 year old working instrument and the conversion to classical pitch, done in the 18th century, was most competent. The guy was so generous he let me play it, as best I could. On examining the instrument I was struck by an odd repair on the back. There, nicely grain matched to look just like the flamed maple of the back, was a repair of a "knot hole" of an odd shape. It was about 2" round at the bottom and perhaps 1" wide at the top, sort of an inverted pear shape. On inquiry I was told that it was used for marching. The player wore a leather belt with a brass knob on the front which was inserted into the larger portion of the "pear" shaped hole and then lodged in the upper, smaller portion of the hole. The player could then march along playing his cello. Sometime in the 19th century it was deemed redundant and a repair effected. So, Strad presumably made "marching celli". How's that for a strap?
Best, Rob Dorsey, luthier Florence, KY USA -----Original Message----- From: Katherine Davies [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 3:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute straps I think this is the article: Robert Spencer 'How to Hold a Lute: Historical Evidence from Paintings', Early Music, Vol. 3, No. 4. (Oct., 1975), pp. 352-354. Thanks to everyone who has replied with such useful information! Katherine Davies To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
