Hi, everyone, I've been waiting for one of the luthiers on the list to reply, but since they haven't, I'll toss in that it's my understanding that the physical forces of strings pulling on the glued-down bridges of lutes, which then torque the bridge against the very thin soundboard, are quite different from those of strings pushing down on violin bridges, which transmit the force downward onto the more robust, carved soundboards, all of which results in lutes tending to come apart more quickly than violins do. Also, I believe that in the opinion of some, at least, because of these different structures and forces, while violins tend to sound better as they age, the sound quality of lutes (and guitars with glued-down bridges) tends to deteriorate over time. Perhaps some luthier list-members could confirm, deny, or nuance? Doesn't Mace talk of having his soundboards replaced on a regular basis?
Best to all, and keep playing. Chris. On Sat, Apr 21, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Edward Mast <[1][email protected]> wrote: I think one or two may have survived un-modified (perhaps the "Messiah"?). Also, Yo Yo Ma 'de-modified' one of his strad cellos (I believe I've read this), reconfiguring it as a Baroque instrument. (How much of a shame the modifications are depends upon who you're talking with, of course). -Ned On Apr 21, 2012, at 5:00 PM, Sam Chapman wrote: > Just for the record, I don't think any of those Stradivarius violins > are in anything like their original condition. Which is a real shame. > > All the best, > > Sam > > On 20 April 2012 20:23, Herbert Ward <[2][email protected]> wrote: >> >> According to Wikipedia, there are many Strativarius violins >> in active use today: >> [3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments >> >> But I never hear of anyone playing a historical lute routinely. >> In fact, it seems rare for anyone to even handle one. >> >> Is this because the thin soundboard becomes fragile with age? >> >> -- >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- > Sam Chapman > Oetlingerstrasse 65 > 4057 Basel > (0041) 79 530 39 91 > > -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stradivarius_instruments 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
