I finished building my cittern this morning. Now that I've played it (briefly before I had to leave for work), I think metal strings plus wooden tuning pegs plus a scalloped fingerboard is a really bad idea. The tiniest tuning movement changes the pitch several steps. Any but the lightest pressure behind a fret bends the pitch up a semitone. I wonder why our renaissance forebears went that way. OTOH, I love the sound. (Pictures of the build process: [1]http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.232803666741860.60013.21099 1832256377&type=1 ) --
References 1. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.232803666741860.60013.210991832256377&type=1 To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
