Hi Manolo,
Well, it's yes and no question isn't it. And, as you expanded it yourself ,
it is up to the player in the end which strings and at what tension(s)
they'd be more comfortable with to produce the sound they want. What I can
perhaps recommend is the highest limit of tension, so as not to destroy the
instrument :) Otherwise, go with the lower tension range that your playing
technique would allow; this will certainly help to produce a more beautiful
sound. Also, if one plays with thumb-over hand position, it would then be
possible to move the hand further towards the bridge for even more
harmonically rich sound. There is certainly an added bonus in playing like
this on vihuela and one can almost read between the lines in the
Fuenallana's instructions that it would be the way to go on the vihuela.
Unfortunately thumb-over hand position is not yet widely acknowledged by
modern vihuela players most of whom would have first started with
thumb-under on the lute ... and so it goes.
Alexander
----- Original Message -----
From: "ml" <[email protected]>
To: "List LUTELIST" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 11:28 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: strings, pitch, thickness tension - need help!
my humble opinion: your vihuela, Oskar, was designed and build by
Batov with a tension with which it sounds at its best. I would ask
Batov about everything related with stringing, fretting, etc.
Each instrument is a world in itself, and also sounds different when
played by different musicians. The other way around is also true, and
this is marvelous: a good player has his/her own sound, whatever the
instrument played!
Manolo
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