Dear father on the lute list, Would you post this reply on my behalf? As far as I know, there is no commercially available plan for the British Museum citole. The exterior of the instrument has been measured by several people, but the decorative carving makes it difficult to measure the thickness of the walls and the internal false back makes it impossible to measure the thickness of the back (no, the BM will not allow a magnet to be dropped inside for use with a inductive thicknessing gauge - I asked). Some indication of the thickness of the walls can be gleaned from the xrays which are reproduced in "A musical Instrument Fit for a Queen" by P. Kevin et al. in The British Museum Technical Bulletin Vol. 2. which can be downloaded from the British Museum website [1]http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_journals/technical_rese arch_bulletin/bmtrb_volume_2.aspx In Chapter 6 of my PhD thesis, I list some measurements for the instrument but until I get a decision from my assessors (in another three months perhaps?) I can not really share that information. A few general measurements for the British Museum citole given in: - Kathryn E. Beuhler, 'Retelling the Story of the English Gittern in the British Museum: An Organological Study, ca. 1300 - Present' (Unpublished Master's Thesis, University of Minnesota, 2002), p.150. - Frederick Crane, Extant Medieval Musical Instruments: A Provisional Catalogue by Type (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1972). - John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, 5 vols. (London: T. Payne and Son, 1776), Vol. 2, p. 344. None of these agree exactly. Of these three, the measurements listed by Kate Beuhler McWilliams are the most complete (and I think most accurate since they are with 2mm of the measurements taken by Lewis Jones and me in 2003). Crane offers only length and width. Hawkins gives approximate measurements in inches and is relatively inaccurate. There will be a publication following the November 2010 symposium on the British Museum citole. It would be a great idea to include at least a comprehensive list of measurements for the instrument. I will suggest that to the person who is co-ordinating the post-symposium publication. It would be so easy to include, I am surprised that no one thought of that already. Thanks for the idea. best wishes - Alice Margerum
-- References 1. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_journals/technical_research_bulletin/bmtrb_volume_2.aspx To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
