Hello Louis
You observations seem right to me.
At the end of a three hour set my wrist if fine - my butt hurts.
Joe
On 4/1/11 9:37 AM, "Louis Aull" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
>
>
> The continued discussion of finger position brought to mind some of the
> mechanical aspects of the lute as well as well. Robert Lundberg in his
> wonderful book on lute construction insists that the bowls of
> historical lutes were shaped down on the sides from in front of the
> bridge to the rose to allow more clearance for the strings. I know that
> this lowering of the sides could also have been due to repair or
> correction of the neck angle. Raising the neck angle without removing
> the neck causes the sides of the bowl to bow out and lower slightly.
> But in looking at pictures of players hand's and instruments of of all
> kinds, guitars, lutes, banjos, a perfectly made instrument may wind up
> in the hands of anyone. A bridge low enough to allow the pinky to rest
> on the soundboard will find itself torn to shreads by the pick of a
> strum player (see Willie Nelson). Perhaps Robert was actually seeing
> the truth here. Look at the finger rest that Chet Atkins used to get
> the rest point up to his very short pinky, yet keep the clearance for
> pick work.
>
>
>
> As the necks got longer and peg boxes got heavier, the neck angle
> naturally rises to reduce this weight. At 45 degrees, the weight is
> half that of 90 degrees. As the neck comes up, the right wrist rotates
> to a position more in parallel with the strings and the pinky has a
> natural tendancy to come off the sound board. This allows the builder
> to raise the bridge to get more sound and protect the soundboard from
> pick damage. Lutes in the 18th century tend to have higher bridges.
> Once the bridge is raised, it's over for the pinky without a finger
> rest or placing the pinky on the bridge. The smudge would have been
> left on some strings. (could the smudgeless soundboards have had a Chet
> Atkins finger rest?)
>
>
>
> At the end of a three hour set, hows your wrist?
>
>
>
> Louis Aull
>
> Phone: 770.978.1872
>
> Fax: 866.496.4294
>
> Cell:404.932.1614
>
>
>
> --
>
>
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