If the strings are slightly out of tune with each other, it has the same effect as starting them at different times since they will change in and out of phase over time.
On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 2:18 PM, Rockford Mjos <[1][email protected]> wrote: On all of these dimensions, are people talking about distances of string center to string center (which is how I understand these type of measurements)? Or might some people be measuring the "gap" between the string "edges"? Last night I stumbled across notes I had taken from a 1979 LSA class with Paul O'Dette. One of the notes from the class read: "One of the main causes of slapping strings is setting strings in motion at diff. times. and _not_ of force." -- R On Jul 22, 2011, at 9:32 AM, 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 [2](401) 874-5882 Department of Physics, East Hall Fax [3](401) 874-2380 University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 To get on or off this list see list information at [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. tel:%28401%29%20874-5882 3. tel:%28401%29%20874-2380 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
