6,7,8 course Much depends on what you want to play.
And also how you intend to play. Some play alone, others in consort. Some consorts are more formal than others. A sunday afternooon jam session or a pickup band playing for dancers is going to be far less formal than a collegium musicum or a performing ensemble. An instrument for use in ensemble will have less need for wide range than one used in solo work; it can be less general, more focused in design. I began with 6c guitar, as most of those on this list have done. 6c can (and does) cope with repetoire beyond its range, with scordatura and other adoptions of the music and the tuning of the instrument. 7c has less need to retune or make adjustments, same for 8c. I joined a collegium musicum and was lent a 7c while playing with it, nice instrument. I bought an 8c some years later (came into some money, never was able to save up that much gelt) and like it the best of all those options. Someday i will finish building orpharion and cittern that are on my workbench (experiments both). Additionally, having extra bass courses lets you play fuller chords when you are playing 'rhythm', perhaps accompanying a vocalist, or vamping as a buddy plays the decorated part of a duet. When the dance band leader calls for 'Symphony', and you turn to that page in Barnes, you discover but one part (all that Playford published in 1651), its up to you to play something in the way of chords under the rest of the ensemble, and here you will welcome all the courses you can get. There is far more to the repetoire than what is set down, and an 8c lets you go there when a 6c is more limiting. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
