Dear Martin and All
I think all these positive messages about lutes aging and improving
will make many of us worry less about our lutes. It is a pity that
aging does not always improve all aspects of the lutist (as I can
unfortunately testify).
I agree with Martin, I doubt very much whether at present there is
any scientific explanation available for why musical instruments
improve over time, so long as they are played.
I have also noticed this with hifi equipment. The equipment can go on
improving over many months; but if you switch it off during a long
holiday, the same piece of equipment can sound quite harsh until a
month or so has gone by.
Apparently there is no easy scientific explanation for this either,
but most audiophiles agree that this does indeed happen. I wonder
whether there is not some similar explanation for both. After all, in
one case we have sound waves being prorogated through wood and air,
while in the other an electric signal also travelling through the
pieces of the system.
Perhaps, it has something to do with forced resonances. Certain
material, may have a natural resonance, but perhaps it can be forced
to "behave" differently, so long as the forced resonance is repeated
often enough. Perhaps some temporary restructuring takes place, which
can be lost if the pattern is not repeated.
Unfortunately in the case of most hifi items, they do have a limited
life, so here the comparison ends.
I am no scientist, and this is just my intuition at work, and my
lateral thinking has often been proved wrong in the past
Best
Anthony
Le 18 mars 07 à 13:34, Martin Shepherd a écrit :
> Dear Anthony and All,
>
> I can only say from my experience that lutes continue to improve
> with age. I made a lute in 1982 which I still play regularly and
> it has just got better and better over the years. I have several
> other lutes made twenty years ago which seem to have improved over
> that time. It remains to be seen whether they will continue to
> improve over the next twenty years....
>
> Changes also occur on a much shorter time scale. When a new lute
> is first strung it is sometimes disappointing, sounding rather
> disjointed in different registers and possibly lacking in sustain
> in the treble. This improves over a period of hours and days as
> the strings stretch and the instrument "takes up the tension". It
> may take weeks or months for a more integrated sound to develop,
> and it seems (though it is only a matter of intuition) that being
> kept well in tune and played regularly helps this process.
>
> Sorry there's no science here, only intuition. One suggestion
> which seems to make sense is that the resins in the soundboard
> harden with age and make it stiffer (or at least lessen any damping
> effect of soft resin). Old wood is dry, but changes in humidity
> and temperature in the environment seem to affect things - have you
> noticed how some days the same instrument just isn't "happy" and
> seems different? I think violinists have commented on this as well.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Martin
>
> Anthony Hind wrote:
>
>> I had heard similar remarks; but I was told that the contrast was
>> between flat soundboards and curved ones (rather than thin ones).
>> However, when, in London at the UK lute meeting, I heard
>> Lindberg's ancient Rauwolf that has a soundboard dating from the
>> 17th century or so, it seemed this might not be so.
>>
>> On the spot, I asked various lutemakers that question, and they
>> told me that it was true for some guitars that had been turned-
>> out almost pre-run-in, because guitarists wouldn't wait for the
>> instrument to improve with age. As a result they claimed these
>> instruments aged badly. I was told that this was not necessarily
>> true for lutes. I have no proof either way, but I would be
>> worried about buying a 20 year-old lute. Perhaps this is quite
>> mistaken and they should be sought out.
>>
>> At the same time, I also imagine that lutemakers progress in
>> their knowledge of the instrument and their skills may develop
>> over time; so that might be another argument for looking for a
>> recent instrument by a particular maker, rather than one of his
>> or her early ones. again this may be quite wrong, and is very
>> unfair to lutemakers young in their careers, but I think it may
>> well be the way many lutists consider a purchase of a lute.
>> Clearly, this is not necessarily the way violinists think when
>> purchasing their instruments.
>> Anthony
>>
>>
>> Le 16 mars 07 à 22:56, Herbert Ward a écrit :
>>
>>
>>
>>> I've heard that lutes, due to the thinness of the wood
>>> in their soundboard, do not improve with age like
>>> violins, and that, in fact, an old lute will have an
>>> OK bass and treble, but be weak in the middle courses.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
