On Fri, Jan 11, 2008, Julien Stryjak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > hello,
Bonjour Julien. > I will have to repair a 7 course renaissance lute very soon and I would > like to have some advices on the location of bridge. It sounds as if you are an experienced luthier who does not normally work on lutes. > The actual lute has been made in the 70's in germany by Scherzer (iron > brand), is quite heavy, but nice. These were common in germany, but not at all like historical lutes, much more like modern guitars. > The owner of the instrument wants to improve it by making a new > top (barring system as well of course) and a new bridge, and this is > where the funny part starts ! Bien sure, drole. > > The lute has an current string length of 620 mm ,ad is tuned in g. 62 cm is long for an A=440 G lute at low tension. Perhaps your client would be happy with a 'D' lute? This instrument probably has a nice large bowl and may be better suited for that. The neck may be narrow, it was designed for 6 single strings. Is it fitted with tuning machines? You dont say how many courses (I assume 6). A new neck and pegbox may be appropriate. A new top seems likely. This leaves you with a bowl, and most of the work of making a new instrument, plus reworking the bowl to take a wider neck and a top without linings. > When making a new top and bridge, I would like to > locate it properly. Bien sure. > 1. how to locate properly a bridge ( and bars) on a lute ? We have not examined enough of the surviving lutes to give you a definitive answer on this, it is possible that each maker had his own rules. The literature on Lute design is not extensive, you can easily read it in one day; tho it may take much longer to acquire it all. Ian Harwood, "Lute", in _Making Musical Instruments_, Charles Ford Ed. _____, "A Fifteenth Century Lute Design", LSJ II. _____, "Correspondance" [on Kottick below] Edward L. Kottick, "Building a 15th-Century Lute", GSJ XXVI [also see corigenda above]. Friedemann Hellwig "On the Construction of the Lute Belly", GSJ XXI. _____, [several other articles in GSJ] > As far as I know, the middle of a bridge is located 1/6 of body length > from the bottom. But, what is exactly the body/top length ? depends on the design, the number of courses... I would begin with the string length, and string spacing). String spacing and number of courses gives you width of neck at nut, and body join, and width of bridge. > Does it stop at the body/neck joint, or at the top/fingerboard joint, > or at the imaginery intersection of the two curves of the ouline ? I doubt that all makers were in agreement on this, you must decide what you will use, this is not a straightforward design. The original maker may have had an original instrument in mind when he molded the back, or it may be his own; he may have gotten the mold close, but not exact, and made do with what he had. You may research the back's outline and find a match in surviving lutes, or you may discover it has no match, only possibles. > It's not very clear to me, and the readings doesn't help really. It is difficult to see inside a lute, unless the top is off, which is not common with museum instruments. The wood is thin enough that some details can be seen by using strong backlighting (I have a CD whose cover demonstrates this, Chris Wilson is the player); but convincing a museum conservator to allow this much exposure to strong light, c'est impossible. > Lundberg speaks ... Use a computer or draw it out by hand and pick one system. Make a top, try it out. You will have to guess at how to thickness the top, and carving several roses will be fun, but that may be what you must do to make the client happy. > Of course the player wants it tuned in g again. so what's the longest > string length possible for a g tuning without breaking strings or having > too much tension then ? Several string calculators are online, try them out. Bon Chance -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
