The 7 course configurtation can be superior- in somewhat the same way & for the same reasons that an 11 course Baroque lute is far more elegant, architecturally sounder, easier to handle, and tonally balanced than the 13 course bass rider thing- but which is the model I own, because I play Weiss- esp. late Weiss, more than any other composer for the d-minor lute. I think that with 8 courses, the instrument should be at least 59 cm. string length to have enough body air space & neck length not to look clunky and provide enough sonic resonance. On that basis I have no problem at all with my own 62 cm. 8 course lute.
My 7 course solution is a 64 cm. SL "Chambure" vihuela copy from Harris & Barber; the body- unlike many vihuela models- is plenty wide enough for a 7 course neck and has all the bass capacity for the extra range (7th a fourth down, permanently). I admit I cheat, and use the lute tuning rather than the conceptually different 7-course vihuela tuning. I'm impressed with all the solutions & insights others have been giving here, always more to learn. Dan On May 2, 2012, at 2:23 PM, David van Ooijen wrote: > On 2 May 2012 17:39, Joshua Burkholder <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I know that some people re-tune the 7th course from D to F as needed, but on >> my rental lute this seems quite impossible. The diapason is stung to F and >> if I drop it down to D it becomes far too wobbly and flabby. > > Hi Joshua, welcome to lute café > > You want a 7-course? Stick with it, I think they are superior > instruments (I play - among far too many other stringy things - 6, 8 > and 10-course Renaissance lutes and are the living embodiment of the > definition of a lute player: an instrumentalist always one instrument > short). My experience is: less string makes better instruments > (shorter bridge gives more freedom to the top / a limited range is > easier for a lute body and/or luthier to handle ...?). > I think you'll be fine with a 7th course tuned to F. If you need the > occasional low D, you'll transpose up an octave or will accept the > absence. If you'll have periods of playing lots of low D music, you'll > change strings. If it's the occasional piece, you'll retune and will > learn to live with a flabby string (give the strings some days to > settle, give yourself some days to come to terms with the low tension, > adapt your technique: play close to the bridge, change the angle of > your thumb). You'd be surprised at the range of string tensions > amongst lute players (I am, anyway, whenever I pick up an instrument > form somebody else), so if there's other people that can play on > ridiculously low/high tensions, you can for the occasional piece. > anyway, choose a string diameter for E or E-flat, and you'll be double > safe. I tune the low D on my 8-course to C without trouble. The whole > 8-course used to go up and down between 415 to 440 before I had the > luxury of seperate 415 and 440 lutes. My 6-course still goes up and > down a whole tone (g or a, whatever is needed) occasionally with the > same strings even. It takes a little time for the > strings/instrument/me to adjust, but it works. > > David - a 7-course, hmm, on my wish list for sure > > > -- > ******************************* > David van Ooijen > [email protected] > www.davidvanooijen.nl > ******************************* > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
