Didn't know about the reeds, but I did have to
glue a cracked, plastic uke back together once
during my unfortunate year as a repair drone in a
really 2nd rate guitar dealer/repair shop. As to
the germanery of plastic reeds, we have been
struggling for the past 30 years or more to get
out from under the tyranny of plastic strings-
"Keep a spare .40 mm nylon treble in the case for
emergencies, then don't have emergencies" -if I
may paraphrase. (Yes, I do just that!)
I agree that the rapid-prototyping seems highly
unlikely, plus Mustafa's commercially oriented
pitch is unattractive, but as David & Dana point
out:
> In this very list we have admitted on several occasions that there is a
need for inexpensive playable instruments. Give this fellow's ideas some
room, he just might be able to pull it off - and better for him to do so
with honest advice.
Fair enough. There are plans of lutes available from various museums
with instruments. The Hague Gemeentemuseum, for example, and Cité de
la Musique in Paris, too, I believe. Robert Lundberg's book
'Historical Lute Construction' has basic plans of the Erlangen Series
Lute Plans. The Guild of American Luthiers will send you these as
full size blackline prints. It's a start.
After all this talk, I must admit that I could
really use a decent, acceptable sounding 8 course
bread-and-butter Renaissance tenor work horse
lute that would appear on my doorstep tomorrow AM
for only $39.99 charged to my Visa.
And I would string it in GUT! Irony and better
sound in the same package- that's a two-fer.
It's starting to sound a little Star Trekkish-
"Computer, (Patrick Stewart's voice) eight course
Frei tenor, 62 cm. SL, A-415 pitch standard, and
a dry martini, please."
Dan
Very correct, Daniel, although it would have been more germane to the
point if you had also mentioned Maccaferri's plastic reeds, which were
enough of a success that they continued to be made through WWII
despite rationing. (They had the endorsement of Benny Goodman!)
I could go on. Probably the best, and shortest, example is in plastic
reeds, in which Maccaferri had such a hit. For the single-reed
instruments, plastic reeds can be a godsend, and companies like Rico
make many varieties, now. For the doublereeds... well, other than
"Keep one in the case for emergencies, then don't have emergencies,"
there isn't much to say. They're both reeds, but in one case, applying
high technology materials worked well, and in the other, it has never
caught on. (A side note, parallel to the "Try parts of lutes and an
association with real luthiers": for double reed instruments,
pantograph reed profile copying machines are viable and useful. Bloody
expensive, and you have to have something to copy, but at least you
get something that, with a bit of tweaking, you can play music on.)
So I reiterate: plastic lutes don't seem to me to be a wise way to try
to establish rapid-prototyping as a viable manufacturing approach.
Your mileage may vary.
ray
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