David, What an instructive and hilarious posting! Many thanks!
I am a lefty, but from the very beginning of my plucking life (age 12 or therabouts) I have played guitar and lute right-handed. Perhaps I am ambidextrous to some degree, but I certainly throw a ball with my left, and write with my left. Since both hands must be used skilfully, I wonder if there is any fundamental reason why the plucking or bowing hand has to follow one's dexterity or sinister tendencies. Just a thought Miles Dempster ----- Message d'origine ----- De: David van Ooijen <[email protected]> Date: Vendredi, Janvier 9, 2009 5:30 am Objet: [LUTE] Re: restring? À: lute <[email protected]> > On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Jean-Marie Poirier > <[email protected]> wrote: > > I'm afraid it isn't that simple... I am left-handed so I know what > I'm talking about. In fact a lute is not built like a guitar and it is > not enough to change the strings the other way round to ba able to > play a left-handed instrument. > > > Another lefty here. Jean-Marie is right, it's not a good idea to use > a > right-handed lute the other way round, too many complications. Having > said that, I do own one right-handed lute, and have re-strung it. Just > so you know what a bad idea that is, I'll give a short summary of the > problems playing that lute gives me. It's a 7-course: single first > course, 6 double courses. That makes 13 strings. I have not altered > the bridge or nut, so to have it as a left-handed 7-course I have a > single first and a single 7, only the middle 5 courses are double now. > That makes 12 strings, and one spare peg. It has a very awkward string > spacing, left and right. For fixing that, changing the nut would not > be a big problem, drilling some extra holes in the bridge is a little > more tricky, especially as they must be very close to the existing > holes. I never bothered. The neck is, as it should be, slightly > off-centre. That means it's slightly off-centre the wrong way round > now. You don't want to know how awkward that can be, playing in high > positions. The neck, the whole instrument in fact, is slightly warped, > perhaps designed to be so, perhaps it came about when the maker was > adjusting the instrument, perhaps it happened over time. The result is > a good action: low for the first course, a little higher for the > basses. But that's good action for a right-handed lute, so more circus > acts needed to play it as a lefty. Minor aberrations as slanted bridge > or nut to compensate for tuning differences in high and low strings I > don't particularly notice, the other problems are great enough to > occupy me when playing it. Luckily I once managed to push my knee > through the sound board, in a desperate act preventing the lute from > falling from my lap, firmly pressing it with my hand to make sure the > knee went all the way through, which resulted in an excellent repair > job by a better luthier than the original maker. He managed to improve > the action by shaving of a considerable part of the edge of the bowl, > before gluing the, repaired, soundboard back in place. Repair cost me > almost more than the lute itself. > Remains the question, why do I bother with an instrument like this, > having a good collection of quality lutes? It's my teaching instrument > when I have to go off to my music school: strung in all-carbon (yuk!) > and Pyramid (yuk!). From 415 to 440 in no-time between pupils. D-minor > for the next. Single bass to C, D, or F, whatever is needed. Everyone > is allowed to have ago on it, drop it, sit on it, leave it in the > rain, dry it on the heater. In good Dutch: it's my StuiterLuit > (bouncing lute). Would I ever bring it on stage? No. Would I ever > record with it? No. Would I ever play it at home for fun? No. Do I > ever treat my pupils and myself to a proper lute? Regularly. Should > you treat yourself to a proper lute? Definitively! > > David > > > -- > ******************************* > David van Ooijen > [email protected] > www.davidvanooijen.nl > ******************************* > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
