Hello Andrew, The tuning you described is the same relative tuning as a guitar. I'm not sure why your guitar friends would say, "it's close to guitar tuning save for a note or two", unless they were meaning it's not tuned to 'E' but relatively higher. Guitars are generally tuned in E and your lute is in A. For lute tuning you need to lower the 3rd course a half step; from 'C' to 'B'.
21.5 cm is way too small. Isn't that 21.5 inches? In inches it converts to 54.6 cm, which is a good length for a lute in 'A'. For starters check out Wayne Cripps lute pages: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute/lute.html Good luck. Ken Brodkey -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of Andrew Arconti Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2009 4:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LUTE] Re: Alto lute help __________________________________________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [LUTE] Alto lute help Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:26:44 -0700 > You mean B? Or do you have it in guitar tuning? It's not in guitar tuning as far as I know. I was told by the seller that this is the correct tuning for this lute. Wouldn't think it'd be a guitar tuning , but... I have taken it to some friends who play guitar however, and they have said it's close to guitar tuning save for a note or two. Wish I could say more, but I'm new to all of this. > Anyone answering these questions would need to know the mensur > (length from bridge to nut) and what strings you have on it now. The length is approx. 21.5 cm from nut to bridge. It's got nylgut throughout except with the addition of silver wound strings on the 5th and 6th courses, and nylon for the top string. Unfortunately, other than that I'm not sure about the strings. Not sure what the gauges are currently. > Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:39:29 -0700 > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Alto lute help > > > On Jul 18, 2009, at 3:26 PM, Andrew Arconti wrote: > > > I have been using the following tuning which I was told is what the > > instrument was made for: A, E, C > > You mean B? Or do you have it in guitar tuning? > > > , G, D, A; but am curious if there are > > other tunings appropriate for a lute of this type? I have been > > tuning > > to 440hz and am wondering if anyone feels there is a better > > frequency > > to be tuning an alto to, and if I was to lower my tuning frequency, > > would I need to change out my strings to a new size? > > > Anyone answering these questions would need to know the mensur > (length from bridge to nut) and what strings you have on it now. > > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html __________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail(R): Search, add, and share the webs latest sports videos. [1]Check it out. __________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail(R): Celebrate the moment with your favorite sports pics. [2]Check it out. -- References 1. http://www.windowslive.com/Online/Hotmail/Campaign/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_W L_QA_HM_sports_videos_072009&cat=sports 2. http://www.windowslive.com/Online/Hotmail/Campaign/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_W L_QA_HM_sports_photos_072009&cat=sports
