Dear Samuel Welcome to the list, and congratulations on your lute!
> nylon strings on the instrument and the spruce top evenwarped up > underthe bridge and warped down on top of the bridge. My guess is this > is due to high string tension? Maybe, but also maybe due to too humid or dry conditions. Have a luthier look at it to ease your mind. > instrument. So I am looking at buying lower tension strings (thinner > diameter?), but do not know what diameter I should buy for each course. Send an e-mail to any major string supplier (e.g. Kuerschner or Aquila) with the specifications of your lute (string length, number of courses, desired tuning and pitch) and tell them you want a low string tension. They will make you an individual set. Alternatively, buy a standard set and tune your lute a little lower than the set indicates. That will give a lower string tension. No problems as long as you don't plan on playing with other instruments. But if that is the case, go for the first option. On a side note, a 'standard' set is a strange thing, as there is no such thing as a standard lute. You have a 60cm lute, a standard set covers lutes with string lengths from say 58 to 63cm (my guess). Is it a set for 415 or for 440Hz? And what kind of string tension does the supplier consider standard? Many variables. You can of course calculate your own string diameters, by using one of the many on-line string calculators. David -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [email protected] www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
