Hi Peter,
I don't thinks your maker did anything wrong, not at all. I'm guessing
of course but it looks like he simply replicated the sting spacing
(well, at least on the bridge, I'm not so sure about the nut ...) from
the bridge(s) of one of the original archlute or theorbo (a few of those
have indeed survived with their original bridges intact). If this is the
case, the distance between individual strings in courses as little as
4.0 mm and even less would be 'fairly' normal. To give just one, rather
'extreme' example: the original bridge of a theorbo by Martinus Kaiser
(E.24, Musee de la Musique, Paris) has about 3.3 - 3.5 mm between the
strings of the 6th course; and this is for the string length at c. 88.5
cm! I don't know what the string length of your archlute is but if it
is, say, within 57 - 64 cm, then 4 mm would be about right (perhaps even
on a wider side!) by the 'old standards'. So again, with such close
spacing, a lot depends on where you pluck the strings ... Although not
an archlute but perhaps something like this would work:
http://www.klassiskgitar.net/unknown17-portraitofalut.html
Good luck!
Alexander
On 22/07/2011 15:32, Peter Nightingale wrote:
Ed, Suzanne, Roman, Alexander, ...
Thanks for your suggestions. I remain confused by colliding strings and
ditto realities.
I cannot believe that Joel van Lennep would make an instrument with the
design flaws your comments imply. Could it be that my lute does not live
up to your expectations, because it is a 14 course archlute. (BTW,
Suzanne seems to have a space problem too.) The courses have to be close
together for the instrument to be playable, it would seem. The distance
between the string of the 6th and 7th courses is is roughly 4mm, 8mm, and
4mm. If pairs of the individual courses were to be 5mm apart, this would
become 5mm, 6mm, 5mm. It would introduce a 6.5th course, a revolutionary
design! My guess is that the compromise that was made tries to avoid the
the clanging disaster by creating more space at the nut. Actually, there
is more: the octave strings are slightly closer to the sound board than
the fundamentals in both courses.
Thanks again,
Peter.
the next auto-quote is:
A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy,
education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary.
Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of
punishment and hope of reward after death.
(Albert Einstein)
/\/\
Peter Nightingale Telephone (401) 874-5882
Department of Physics, East Hall Fax (401) 874-2380
University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881
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