I have tried it. Many lute methods and builders books give different
methods. The Ian Harwood instructional I built my first lute from has the
double, and I tied them. I didn't notice any tonal difference though.
Again, and now I'm starting to feel like a contrary, I use the single. The
best thing for tight frets is a slightly arched fingerboard/neck, which my
el-cheapo lute does not have by the way...
Garry
-----Original Message-----
From: Martyn Hodgson
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 10:41 AM
To: William Samson ; [email protected]
Subject: [LUTE] Double fret loops
Historically double fret loops seem to have been the norm; there was an
exchange of emails on this topic some time ago - see the archives.
Other than Thomas Mace, who mentions single loops but when explaining
how to tie the fret knot describes the normal double loop, I'm not
aware of any other evidence for single loops. Single loops seem to
have been a sort of continuation of (modern) guitar practice of a
single (here fixed) fret which early modern lutenists (mostly
ex-guitarists) copied and seem reluctant to discard........
It has been speculated that double frets create buzzing but in fact the
gut closest to the finger takes most of the heavy wear and soon beds
down leaving the second gut to keep a clean take-off for considerably
longer than a single loop. In addition, being double the length of a
single loop, the double loop also has twice the elongation(stretch) for
he same tie force and allows it to be tied lower (ie closer to the nut)
as Mace advises and then pulled up to ensure a very secure position.
Try it!
MH
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