Juan, I hesitate to interject here, I am a very amateur lutenist (and although I still receive the email from the lute-list I direct it to a separate "inbox" as it is so voluminous). This came to me through the lute-builder list.
I am not a purist for the instrument, I play a kit version of what Musikits called a "flat back lute". The designer was a guitarist with no knowledge of lute (he made his G lute too long) as he really expected his customers to buy it, and make it, as a "renaissance twelve string guitar". I made the modifications, and I would call it an excellent "practice instrument" rather than a "flat back lute". It has been played by several real lutenists, including Ronn McFarlane, and judged a "sweet little instrument" - I think we can call that "damned with faint praise". Yes, I ramble, but I'm coming to a point. I am currently making a renaissance lute from plans (for those who have heard this before the delay was caused by a minor stroke - but all is well and I'll be getting back to making the lute in the late summer). One thing I've learned from my practice lute is that the course spacing at the nut should be defined by your own fingers and hand, not by some classic formula. The stroke hit my left side, and although I have full mobility of the left hand fingers I find I don't get a clean touch on the courses and tend to "buzz" the next string. My hands are small, in one sense, as the fingertips are narrow - but I have a good reach (fifty five years on guitar). I intend to widen the fingerboard (and the nut) on my new lute in order to make it fit my fingers, instead of trying to make my fingers fit it. I'm sure that the "old boys" did the same when they went to their lute builder. I'm also thinking of spreading the bridge a bit, as my aging body hasn't the accuracy of placement it used to have - but as my right hand isn't affected by the stroke I'll think about that a bit. Basically what I'm saying is that "standards" have no place in instruments, except the standards of the music and the play. There are too few lutes preserved to show the individual differences that might have been made for the particular lutenist. Find a separation that works for you, and an easy way to do that is to make a "dummy" lute. Cut a piece of wood of appropriate length and get a bunch of "zither pins" (as used for the folk harp, or psaltery) to anchor the strings. Then make several nuts and bridges to guide them. It won't be an instrument, as it won't have any resonance, but it will let you try the feel of the spacings. (I'm going to do that before I settle on my modifications to the plans I have - which I may also modify from a 7 course to an 8 course renaissance). As an old curmudgeon I would normally say that one should learn to fit oneself to the standards, but as one who has been around a long time I can recognize that each hand is different, and one can't change the shape of one's fingers. Best, Jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Juan Fco. Prieto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "lutelist" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 2:29 AM Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: String spacing. Please Help. > My most sincere thanks, Chad, Bob, Clive and Sterling. > This copy you mentioned, Bob, may help me a lot. I could resend it to my > luthier. On the other hand, I found a modern tendency to separate a bit > more > the strings at the nut (more separation between the strings of a course, > moving the octave to the right of the former position, as we can see in > the > image linked below. Note the previous nut marks and the real position of > the > octave. That's probably trying to minimize the *slapping effect?*) > > http://www.lute.net/instruments/blute0606/pegf.jpg > > My best regards for you, > > Juan Fco. Prieto. > > P.S.: Ah, Mr. Barto, let me say that your 7th Weiss recording is > breathtaking! One of the best of the Naxos series IMHO (I own till now all > the 8 CD and it's really very hard to make such choice, because we are > accoustomed to an always outstanding performance). The sound itself is > even > richer than usual, with some " *microfluctuations*" in tone (Maybe due to > the more flexibility of nylgut? I don't know, but your Rutherford seems to > sound deeper and more *nasal*) that are adding a *plus* to the final sonic > result. I have no words -my English is so limited...- to express how this > recording impressed me. I noticed, also, the main tone is lowered one half > tone respect to A=415. Don't stop recording, please. > > > > > 2007/5/25, Chadwick Neal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> >> Hi Juan and Bob >> I am finishing a swan neck b lute, and I thought a discussion >> would >> be nice also for the left hand. For the eight fingered courses I have >> made >> >> two templates with an overall spacing of 57.5mm and the other at 59mm. I >> am >> unsure which to start with. I was reading some info on Linda Sayce's >> website >> which she indicates that you can ask the hand to stretch along the >> strings >> >> or across them but not both simultaneously. This is the only online >> mention >> of the nut spacing that I have found. >> >> >> Chad >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Juan Fco. Prieto [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 5:51 AM >> To: lutelist; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] String spacing. Please Help. >> >> Dear lutenists and luthiers: >> >> I need to make a decision on string spacing matter for my next baroque >> lute. >> Could you suggest me a "*standard*" string spacing (at nut and at bridge) >> for a baroque lute (13 c., bass rider 707/770 string length)? What about >> string distribution? Do you agree with this "*Roman Turovsky law*"?: >> >> "Another important point is the bridge spacing (see above). It is >> recommended to have a distance of 15.5 cm between the top and the bottom >> strings, even if you have small hands. This bridge spacing allows one to >> play cleanly." >> ( http://polyhymnion.org/swv/theaxe.html) >> >> My span is 23 cm. long (End of thumb to end of pinkie, hand extended) A >> brief poll about your lute string spacing may help me. >> Thanks all the people in advance. And specially thanks to Roman Turovsky >> for >> this -above mentioned- awesome web page. >> Greetings from Spain. >> -- >> Juan Fco. Prieto. >> >> -- >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> > > > -- > Juan Fco. > > --
