I believe Jacob's Warwick Frei is a bass lute tuned to D and is 72 cm. This is based on a rebuilt baroque lute from an original bass 6c lute. The basis for the ~62-63cm Frei lute is probably a different instrument thoug I could be wrong. My usual duet partner has a 62 cm Frei body lute by Dan Larson. He tunes it in G 440 --barely. It would be happier at F or, at least, F#. It sounds ok at G but would be a much fuller sound and would handle a top gut string if tuned lower. Sean
guy_and_liz Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Depends on the player and the music. Jacob Herringman did a number of his Ren intabulation recordings on a Warwick Frei that was well over 62cm (someone else may know the specifics). He doesn't use it for everything, though. I've got a 62cm 8-course that I use for later Ren stuff (mostly English), and I wouldn't want to go any larger. That may in part reflect my modest abilities, but I suspect a lot of folks have similar preferences. Plus, for ensemble playing, it's often convenient to be able to tune in G (in A440 tuning). That might be tough with a 65 cm instrument. Guy ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Durbrow To: Rob Dorsey ; LuteNet list Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 9:48 AM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Frei body renaissance lute On Oct 27, 2006, at 11:44 PM, Rob Dorsey wrote: > I am currently building an 8 course lute for a customer on a Frei > body. I do > not build many renaissance lutes and specialize in baroque > instruments but > took this commission anyway. > > He specified the Frei body but also specified a 62cm mensur. Now, > the Frei > is a long body, 52cm from block end to end cap, and the narrower > neck/body > juncture of the 8 course makes it even longer. The problem is, of > course, > that the body will not accommodate anything shorter than about 66cm > without > the neck being ridiculously short. I talked him into 65cm but > renaissance > players, and I'm not one, advise that anything longer than 62 is > untenable > for the solo repertoire. > > Any ideas? I had a Frei of around 66cm many years ago. I tuned it in F. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- --
