I'm an amateur also, but isn't the pitch determined by the density and breaking strength of the string as well as its length? And, of course the response of the instrument is determined by a number of factors, including volume of the bowl, size of the rose, and the makeup and bracing of the soundboard.
I understand that more advanced luthiers are dealing with all of these variables to shape the sound, but at my point of ability I'm fascinated by the possibility of shaping the response by adjusting the bracing. So far it's been largely a matter of luck with me, but I'd like to make it more certain and repeatable. I find Lundberg's description of tuning the bracing rather bewildering. With the lute I'm working on I'm thinking of trying tap tuning with a strobe meter. Anyone have any advice on that? It's an A lute. Oh, and whoever it was who advised me over a month ago to use a wood other than ebony for the spacer strips in the bowl: were you ever right! I went ahead with ebony because I thought I would need to scrape and sand the bowl enough to sand through any layer of black stain, but ebony just doesn't like to bend. I'm almost finished bending my 12 strips plus spares, but in the process I'm discovering new levels of patience in myself. I have my bending iron turned up to nearly its highest setting and I'm re-wetting frequently, but I think it's taking me about an hour per strip. And to think that people have built entire lutes out of ebony! I'm doing this to match a lute that my teacher already has, but on my own I think if I ever use spacer strips again I would use another wood. Ah well, at this point for me every instrument is a learning opportunity. And basically, it's still fun. Tim --- [email protected] wrote: From: "Jon Murphy" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>, "David Van Edwards" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Technical drawings Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 02:42:04 -0400 I wonder about the matter of technical drawings, and am comfortable about writing on the topic since David V. has entered into the discussion. A gentleman who understands the instrument, and the variations. The lute isn't a single instrument, in the sense of the modern guitar. As I understand it it was made in varying lengths, which would define the pitch. The chanterelle defined the overall pitch of the instrument, by setting the max . I may be wrong, as I'm not a luthier, but my impression is that the various makers made instruments of differing length.The lutenist of early times wasn't really concerned about the absolute pitch, most played solo. And absolute pitch itself is a bit of a canard as the preserved organs of the Baroque period range from A=380 to a bit below our standard of A=400. With the full expectation of being corrected I'l say that the real art of the luthier was the shaping, not the dimensions. The length dictates the highest pitch of the chanterelle, the string spacing could have been individually dictated by the lutenist who commissioned the instrument according to his needs. Pure speculation, would be interested in comments. Best, Jon > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
