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The violin has an overhanging lip around the top and back. This make removal
of either much easier and allows the repairman to move or replace the end
block to effect the neck angle. When the sides are moved, the violin does
not run out of material to cover that. On a lute or guitar, nothing can be
moved without a new top to fit the resulting new shape. You can adjust the
angle of the neck by pulling out the sides or pushing them in. This would
shorten or lengthen the center braces and width of a new top (as well as
it's length).
Historically, the lute soundboard construction does the worst thing you can
do with wood, glue pieces cross grain. So when a lute moved from damp Venice
to dry heated Helsinki, the rapid uneven expansion/contraction of the cross
grain braces opened up cracks in the soundboards or broke the braces loose.
When a crack was repaired, the exposed top of the lute was frequently sanded
to produce a better looking repair, but thinning the area of the repair. In
time, the quantity and size of these cracks affects the sound and a new top
was needed. Look at some of the museum tops in Lundberg's book and see all
the repairs inside. Non-working lutes were not moved around by working
musicians and probably survived better.
I have seen lutes with thin tops that produced a very bright sound when
new, but in a few years, sank in front of the bridge loosing tone. Fixing
this requires thicker braces and a thicker top.
Finally, when lutes were built in Europe, virgin stands of high quality
spruce were available. Now they are all farmed out. But there is lots of
very superior wood available in Canada and the Northwest. The last tops I
bought were $ 120 each and were flawless. Very tight grain, even grain
pattern all the way across and a lovely slight hazel pattern in cross light.
My experience with 2 ren lutes and 3 bar lutes, has been two tops each on
the ren lutes (sinking tops, cracks) and one baroque lute that is on it's
third top in 25 years. That one was kind of a laboratory, it went from thin
Sitka, to thicker Sitka, to thicker Englemann, I'm still not happy with it.
The new Bruner swan neck is 3 now and is just right. The others will die the
lonely death of neglect as decorations.
Louis Aull
LOGO3
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<p class=MsoNormal>The violin has an overhanging lip around the top and back.
This make removal of either much easier and allows the repairman to move or
replace the end block to effect the neck angle. When the sides are moved, the
violin does not run out of material to cover that. On a lute or guitar, nothing
can be moved without a new top to fit the resulting new shape. You can adjust
the angle of the neck by pulling out the sides or pushing them in. This would
shorten or lengthen the center braces and width of a new top (as well as
it’s length). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Historically, the lute soundboard construction does the
worst thing you can do with wood, glue pieces cross grain. So when a lute moved
from damp Venice to dry heated Helsinki, the rapid uneven expansion/contraction
of the cross grain braces opened up cracks in the soundboards or broke the
braces loose. When a crack was repaired, the exposed top of the lute was
frequently sanded to produce a better looking repair, but thinning the area of
the repair. In time, the quantity and size of these cracks affects the sound
and a new top was needed. Look at some of the museum tops in Lundberg’s
book and see all the repairs inside. Non-working lutes were not moved around by
working musicians and probably survived better.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I have seen lutes with thin tops that produced a very bright
sound when new, but in a few years, sank in front of the bridge loosing
tone. Fixing this requires thicker braces and a thicker top.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Finally, when lutes were built in Europe, virgin stands of
high quality spruce were available. Now they are all farmed out. But there is
lots of very superior wood available in Canada and the Northwest. The last tops
I bought were $ 120 each and were flawless. Very tight grain, even grain
pattern all the way across and a lovely slight hazel pattern in cross light.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>My experience with 2 ren lutes and 3 bar lutes, has been two
tops each on the ren lutes (sinking tops, cracks) and one baroque lute that is
on it’s third top in 25 years. That one was kind of a laboratory, it went
from thin Sitka, to thicker Sitka, to thicker Englemann, I’m still not
happy with it. The new Bruner swan neck is 3 now and is just right. The others
will die the lonely death of neglect as decorations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Louis
Aull<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><img
width=75 height=65 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:[email protected]"
alt=LOGO3></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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