Yes Chris, I've seen these too, on the type known as an 'English Guitar' (18th century I think). It's funny - a capo seems such an obvious idea and doesn't need anything high tech to work - for example the type with a peg and gut around the back of the neck to hold it down on the strings. It's also useful in ensemble situations to match pitch with the other instruments or with the range of a singer's voice. I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure, unless a source turns up proving their existence. Anyway, I'll continue to use one when it suits. Best, Bill From: Christopher Wilke <[email protected]> To: Edward Martin <[email protected]>; howard posner <[email protected]>; Lute List <[email protected]>; William Samson <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 25 August 2011, 2:37 Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance lute & string length I don't know of any sources for a lute capo. I remember seeing a cittern in a museum that took a rather unique approach to the capo. It had holes bored into the fingerboard into which metal posts on a corresponding capo could be snapped. I have no idea of the age of the instrument and I know practically nothing about cittern history, so this might not even be unusual. Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Tue, 8/23/11, William Samson <[1][email protected]> wrote: > From: William Samson <[2][email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance lute & string length > To: "Edward Martin" <[3][email protected]>, "howard posner" <[4][email protected]>, "Lute List" <[5][email protected]> > Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 10:23 AM > Is there any > evidence that capos were ever used with lutes? > > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
-- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. mailto:[email protected] 4. mailto:[email protected] 5. mailto:[email protected] 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
