Nice coincidence here. Back on the list in "active" mode (despite the emailbox cholesterol clogging effect) because of archlute stringing issues. What's not a problem is going to low tension, because G nominal pitch with A=415 works beautifully on a 64cm. scale. I have used Toyohiko Satoh's most recent lute tension level as a rough guide (mostly 2.2 - 2.4 average) mine is 2.5 for the 8 courses on the fingerboard, except 1st and 2nd- 3.5 and 3.0. Works great for me; I can actually play historic thumb-out half way between the rose and the bridge and there's plenty of "give" to the touch and the sound is clear- not muddy as it would be thumb under directly over the rose, but also not harsh and brittle as forcing the touch at that spot with too high a tension. The whole instrument "breathes" and sounds better, more relaxed. No loss of volume, to my ears at least.
Dan -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
