Got it back. The crack is sealed. Took it home and tuned it up, so I guess we'll see how it goes.
He went on and on about how the maker must be a very good craftsman, and had all kinds of questions about lute and the community surrounding it. I'm fairly sure he's going to end up trying to build one if he gets the chance. On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 12:58 AM, Martyn Hodgson <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Adam, > > That sounds like good news for you - presumably the crack is pretty > fine. Hope it works. > > MH > --- On Mon, 14/5/12, Adam Olsen <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Adam Olsen <[email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute cracking > To: > Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, 14 May, 2012, 20:24 > > I just dropped the lute off at the Violin builder shop. It's Peter > Prier and sons Violins, they make, repair, and have a violin building > school. > He thinks he can have it fixed by tomorrow. He seemed to know a bit > about lutes, and he was pretty confident about fixing it correctly. > However, he said a lot of stuff that didn't "jive" with what you all > have already told me. He's already got it in his hands, and he's > already probably started on it. > His repair method would be the following: > Pump hide glue into the crack, and then lower the tension on all the > strings. He believes it will then close the crack and let the glue > dry. > Some other things he mentioned: > 1. Just gluing another piece of wood into the crack would cause more > problems, because the top wouldn't expand and contract uniformly. > 2. That because I have had the lute in Utah for 3 months, it should > already be climatized, and using 3 humidifiers might actually be > causing more problems. He recommends that I don't use the dampit at > all anymore, and that I should consider not using any case humidifier; > that it is the constant change of humidity from storing it in a humid > case and then practicing in a dry room that is most likely to cause > issues. > 3. He believes it was more the tension of the strings that probably > caused the crack, not the humidity. > 4. He did say that there was the possibility of the grains around the > glued crack breaking, that the glue would be stronger than the grain > itself. > Anyway, when I pick it up tomorrow, I know I'm going to have issues > bringing it back into tune. Is there a sheet online that would list > all the pitches of all the strings on a baroque lute tuned at AA5? > With the base string octaves listed like D3 and D4, or something > similar? > Thank you > On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 11:17 AM, Adam Olsen <[1][email protected]> > wrote: > > Hrmm, this is probably what I'm going to do. There's a few local > > violin shops. I called one and they asked me to bring it in for an > > estimate. > > > > Thanks again for the advice > > On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 9:48 AM, Martyn Hodgson > > <[1][2][email protected]> wrote: > > > > Dear Adam, > > > > It may need repairing rather than doing nothing and running the > risk of > > it extending further. But it may not be necessary to remove the > belly > > to effect a repair. > > > > Presumably the crack tapers to nothing and is reasonably straight - > so > > a sliver of wood (tapering to a feather) is required which can be > glued > > into the crack and then with a fine sharp knife (disposal scalpel > say) > > cut level to the belly. Obviously when inserting the sliver you'll > need > > to judge when it's at the right depth (ie at same thickness as the > > belly). Whether or not the crack will need to be cleaned out before > > doing this is something one could only tell from a close > inspection. > > It's perfectly possible to do this yourself if you're confident of > your > > woodworking abilities but, if not, take it to a violin repairer to > do > > since they will use animal glue which is reversible and will also > be > > probably used to repairing such cracks. Incidentally the glue will > act > > as a lubricant to help slide the sliver into place - but have a few > > dummy runs since it needs to be done smartly with little time for > fine > > adjustments before the glue starts to gel > > > > Make quite a few slivers to try dummy runs on a simulated crack in > a > > piece of spruce and also to select the piece likely to fit best. > Use a > > chisel along the edge of a quarter sawn piece of spruce thicknessed > to > > just over the belly thickness to slice off the slivers in thin > tapered > > sections. Obviously you'll need to ensure the end grain runs in the > > same direction as the belly. > > > > Whoever is doing the repair, it will be best not to keep raising > the > > humidity around the instrument but to let it rest in ambient > humidity - > > so that the sliver is glued into place with the crack at its > widest. > > > > MH > > --- On Mon, 14/5/12, Adam Olsen <[2][3][email protected]> wrote: > > > > From: Adam Olsen <[3][4][email protected]> > > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute cracking > > To: > > Cc: "Lute List" <[4][5][email protected]> > > Date: Monday, 14 May, 2012, 16:18 > > > > Thank you for the information. > > If it's just cosmetic, I won't worry about it too much. All I > really > > care about is that I can still play, and that it won't happen > again. > > I'm really at a loss as to how to keep it humidified enough. The > > humidity in my house is around 30%, and it's at 50% in the case. > > I wonder if it's because I drive it to lessons and etc, and I do > bring > > it out for at least an hour every night to practice. > > Anyway, thanks again > > On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 12:47 AM, William Samson > > <[5][6][email protected]> wrote: > > > The first thing to say is that small cracks are usually > harmless - > > > The trouble is that the best way to repair them and stop them > > > spreading involves taking the soundboard off, which is best > left to > > a > > > maker. > > > > > > If the crack is unlikely to spread ( - and if there's a curved > > J-bar > > > under the soundboard it shouldn't go beyond that - ) a cosmetic > > repair > > > would be a straightforward job for any maker - gluing in a > thin, > > > matching spline to fill it, for example. > > > > > > It's hard to be sure the action is rising if you don't have any > > earlier > > > measurements of it. I'd suggest measuring the height of the > first > > > string above the fingerboard (not above a fret) at the position > of > > the > > > 8th fret. If this is no more than 4mm the action should be OK > - > > but > > > you should still note your measurement and the date for > comparison > > with > > > later measurements. Any higher than 4mm starts to make playing > > tough > > > and a maker should be consulted. There are straighforward ways > of > > > fixing a slightly high action - differently graded frets for > > example, > > > along with a lower nut, which isn't a big job - but in extreme > > cases > > > the lute will need more major work to adjust it. > > > > > > I've found that the most common cause of cracking is extreme > > changes in > > > humidity. If the humidity is stable, the wood shouldn't shrink > and > > > crack. As you probably know, Thomas Mace's answer to this was > to > > keep > > > his lute in a bed. > > > > > > Good luck with this. > > > > > > Bill > > > From: Adam Olsen <[6][7][email protected]> > > > To: Lute List <[7][8][email protected]> > > > Sent: Monday, 14 May 2012, 4:46 > > > Subject: [LUTE] Lute cracking > > > I have a 13 course lute that was built in New Zealand, and is > now > > in > > > SLC, Utah. > > > There's definitely a crack forming just to the right of the > heart > > > decoration at the bottom of the soundboard (toward the treble > > side). > > > I've got the dampit in there which I wet every other day (this > is > > > what the maker recommended, there is a hole where the strap peg > > > usually goes, and a dampit fits), and then > > > two oasis case humidifers in the case. I have a hydrometer > that > > reads > > > around 50 all the time, or sometimes just below. > > > The action seems to be getting a bit higher. Is it possible > it's > > > cracking from too much humidity? > > > Is there something I can do to stop it? I'm worried about it > > getting > > > worse. > > > I just got this lute in February after waiting since 2007 to > get > > one. > > > I'm really kind of bummed out about this. Any help would be > > greatly > > > appreciated. > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > > [1][8][9]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > -- > > > > > > References > > > > > > 1. > [9][10]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > -- > > > > -- > > > > References > > > > 1. mailto:[11][email protected] > > 2. mailto:[12][email protected] > > 3. mailto:[13][email protected] > > 4. mailto:[14][email protected] > > 5. > [15]http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > > 6. > [16]http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > > 7. > [17]http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > > 8. [18]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > 9. [19]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- > > References > > 1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 3. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 4. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 5. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 6. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 7. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 8. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 9. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 10. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 11. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 12. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 13. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 14. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 15. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 16. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 17. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected] > 18. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 19. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
