Very interesting Nancy and confirms my own view. Very little work seems to have been done on Bandora stringing and what was done (much by Eph Segerman many years ago) was largely speculation.
There are a few factors arising from this which I think we should try to address: 1. I'm not sure that bridges coming off a Bandora suggests, if correctly glued, they cannot withstand normal lute tensions for an instrument of this string length. Bass lute (ie similar string length/tensions) bridges don't normally fail. The design bandora bridges is different to that of lutes with strings fastened around a hitch pin at the rear of the bridge and passing over the top of the bridge (rather than through it as the lute). But based on the Palmer orpharion, I think a bandora bridge might have been low even by lute standards (my old Palmer dyeline print has now faded so much that it's difficult to measure with any precision). 2. Most of the modern Bandoras I've come across seem to be set up with a very low tension which, as discussed, make it very easy to displace the strings and result in poor intonation. The sole historical justification for this practice, of which I'm aware, is an early source (is it Barley?) saying that care must be taken when plucking the orpharion/bandora to avoid string clashing. But, of course, this may be related to the closer inter-string seperation on wire string instruments than with lutes. 2. One late piece of information is Roger North telling us that a Bandora could stand up against a harpsichord; but this is late and, I presume, relating to plectrum play for continuo purposes. Nevertheless I think it might indicate a relatively heavy stringing may have been used even in the earlier period. I'll copy this to the cittern list and to the lute builder list for any comment. regards Martyn --- On Mon, 13/6/11, Nancy Carlin <[email protected]> wrote: From: Nancy Carlin <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: bandora tunes To: "Martyn Hodgson" <[email protected]>, "Lute Net" <[email protected]>, "Stuart Walsh" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, 13 June, 2011, 18:53 I have found that slightly high string tension does mean that it is easier not to pull the strings just enough out of alignment so that the intonation suffers. But you also need to make sure that the instrument is up to the tension - there are lots of stories about wire-strung instruments with the bridges coming off. Before changing any strings I would play the instrument enough to make sure that it's not "operator error." With all of the ones I have played (cittern, orpharions & bandora) there are individual places where you have a tendency to pull fretting strings out of tune, especially with the 3rd finger. If you find it is indeed the strings, I have had the best results with strings from Andrew Hartig [1][email protected] They had more evenly balanced tension from course to course and cost my less than NRI strings. Nancy Dear Stuart, You may find a higher string tension (ie use thicker strings) will help in tuning stability. MH --- On Mon, 13/6/11, Stuart Walsh <[2][email protected]> wrote: From: Stuart Walsh <[3][email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] bandora tunes To: "Lute Net" <[4][email protected]> Date: Monday, 13 June, 2011, 12:29 I've got the Lute Society's bandora on loan. It's a nice instrument. used to have one years ago but I'd forgotten how difficult it is to get these things tolerably in tune. Here's a go at three very short pieces from Thomas Brown's 'Bandore and lyra viol book' (about which I know nothing), copied out years ago by Donald Gill. (And thanks to Peter Forrester). The tuning isn't quite right - but not too far out, I hope. [1][1] [5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 and here's a couple of RT's uke tunes [2][6]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug Stuart To get on or off this list see list information at [3][7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. [2][8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 2. [3][9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug 3. [4][10]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Nancy Carlin Associates P.O. Box 6499 Concord, CA 94524 USA phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582 web sites - [5]www.nancycarlinassociates.com [6]www.groundsanddivisions.info Representing: FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe & Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The Venere Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA web site - [7][11]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org -- References 1. [12]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 2. [13]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 3. [14]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug 4. [15]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 5. [16]http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 6. [17]http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 7. [18]http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ -- References 1. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 2. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 3. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 4. http://uk.mc263.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug 10. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 11. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/ 12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipGcIA8EUX8 14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22GLlsLZug 15. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 16. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/ 17. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/ 18. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
