Very interesting that you'd normally string a mandolino at around 2.3/2.4 Kg. This question of (low?) tension is precisely what sparked the current round of exchanges. I'd suggested a tension of around 2Kg might be looked at for mandolino finger style (based on scaled lute practice/size) but most responses from players indicated that they generally used a tension around double this. Asking for any historical evidence for mandolino tensions produced nothing - are you aware of anything (even good iconography) which might suggest tensions around 2/2.5Kg?
Martyn --- On Tue, 1/6/10, Alexander Batov <[email protected]> wrote: From: Alexander Batov <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: baroque mandolins etc---not forgetting the French mandore To: Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, 1 June, 2010, 22:29 Yes, I would certainly use different stings on single- and double-strung instruments. On the single-strung mandore I've currently got (SL 33.5cm), the first string is at c. 2.8kg, the rest at c. 2.5 - 2.7kg (I prefer a slightly higher tension on thicker gut strings, 3rd / 4th). I don't have a mandolino any more but it would normally be string with at a lower tension, c. 2.3 - 2.4 kg per string. Alexander On 01/06/2010 21:36, Stuart Walsh wrote: > Alexander Batov wrote: >> Many good points, Stuart. I myself is a long term fan of this this little instrument (although not so much nowadays) and have made a number of copies of both the mandore and mandolino. I could never really see any hard reasons to distinguish them (I'm talking about early 17th - mid 18th century time frame). In fact, constructionally and in terms of size it is the same instrument and that's the main thing! There is also an evidence of a small late 16th century descant lute by Venere that was converted to a 6-course mandolino (hardly surprising, bearing in mind a suitable body size at hand!). As for the stringing, there seemed to be all different sorts of combinations, with 5- and 6-course instruments being double-strung throughout, or with a single first course, not to say with 4, 5 and, occasionally, 6 single strings (again, within the above-mentioned period). > > Very interesting. I'm still puzzling over string tensions. Would you use a different set of strings for a single-strung instrument than a double-strung one? Would a single-string instrument need slightly thicker strings and higher tension? > > > Stuart To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
