Well! As the jumping into hot water already started... The double frets that we know of, came into use at the same period as the bray harp, and the "bray" attachments in virginals. Again, aesthetics of the sound, it was considered that a hard object slightly touching the string near its' cut-off point makes sustain longer, and the sound, well, more beautiful. When this effect is taken into consideration and the frets tied with this idea, and the string tension light enough for it to work, the results can be quite nice. It is certainly an important mantra: THEY WERE NOT CRAZY, they were not crazy... alexander r.
> Martyn, > > > The continuing, if strange, > > fascination single loops seems to > > defy historical evidence and practical > > experience. > > > Time to wake up that sleeping dog! Once again I'll jump into hot water and > point out that the old gut material had quite different physical properties > than our modern reconstructions. This probably explains Mace's emphasis on > stretching frets before putting them on. > > Perhaps modern gut is hard/stiff enough to maintain its shape and allow for > single frets. On the other hand, if period gut was sort of "rubbery," it > would therefore need to be doubled up in order to provide enough of a > substantial bump on the neck to effectively stop a string. This would in > turn account for the tiny, tiny double frets seen in paintings. > > Chris - has experience with both double and single frets. > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
