Hi--I am sure that the bridge is ebony because I have drilled/enlarged several holes on it and its black dust all the way though. I am worried about the braces and the soundboard. Here in Utah the humidity often gets as low as 5-10%(like today). I am still looking for someone to do the work on this lute. Any ideas?
--Sterling From: Richard Lees <[email protected]> To: Dana Emery <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2012 8:12 PM Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: Archlute Bridge As usual, Dana Emery strikes again ! Excellent post ....... excellent post....... Sonically too, Ebony is not the most musical of woods and while I have retopped a beautiful archlute for a player out here which had ebony staves, one could lightly sense the enharmonic character of ebony in its sound... now for bridges, Dana is right with respect to correct build procedures ......But if our mystery bridge turns out to actually be ebony ( and I have seen some pretty strange stuff done in our modern era with lutes) now would be the best time to replace it I especially like Dana's suggestion to check all joints !!!!! In the retopping of the archlute I mentioned above MANY braces (well over half!) had crystalized glue joints and so I had to re-brace the entire instrument..... This instrument which was made by a pretty well known luthier was built in the late 70s. AND if the top is pushing 20 plus years , Dana's additional suggestion of simply putting on a new top is indeed called for............... A last note to Dana's post.... some years ago i posted a quick observation on cracks, and its worth mentioning it again. And Dana is yet again right on target.... The Spanish masters of lutherie during the mid 60s many of whom I had the great honor to know , were absolutely firm on this issue.. We are to brace perhaps 5 or 6 percent LOW with respect to the expected humidity the instrument is going typically see.... This is to insure the health of the top and to make sure the top sounds well too. BUT there is another monster lurking here...... If the players don't also agressively monitor EXCESSIVE HUMIDITY as when when the relative humidity is in excess of say 20 percent of the build target, then the wood will expand accordingly ... Now since the plantilla or shape of the instrument is fixed by the braces and bowl , the softer top, as it expands, has no where to go... What happens then is that the wood first bellies upwards and then starts to crush itself, under these high humidity conditions and then, when the humidity drops , the top can REALLY crack, and whats worse, at a higher level of humidity even than the target build point! This occurs because by virtue of have been laterally crushed, the top is fundamentally NARROWER than before. When the humidity drops and the top shrinks even further, these catastrophic failures can occur. I restored several German harp guitars like this... The back of one of them, a Haberman instrument, had shrunk so badly that it lost over1/4 of an inch in width relative to plantilla so that when I removed the back you could hear the instrument groan as the stresses were relieved and the sides started to reconform . If this is what has happened to Sterling's lute, then i am afraid a new top is indeed in order...... Richard Lees On 6/18/2012 3:32 PM, Dana Emery wrote: > First point, much of that which is black on musical instruments is dyed maple and not ebony proper. The wood used for a lute bridge does need to stand up to the strings, but need not be as stiff as ebony, fruitwood (pear, plum, apple) are recomended from what I recall. > As has been pointed out your enemy is thermal mass. A replacement strategy allows destructive removal. Working on the naked top will allow the other repair you want to do, and in general you can rejuvinate all the joints as you wish. > cracks in the top of a lute are troublesome, and likely when an instrument travels to a drier climate than that it was built in (er, designed for). A piano top is designed to have a slight but crucial arch that keeps all the joints in compression as it dries out. lute tops are flatter than can allow that, and actually cave in in places (especially between bridge and rose); rising in others (below bridge). > An entirely new top might not be a bad idea at this point, but you seem inexperienced for that, still should you have the resources, it might be an opportunity to consider exploring. You will want to make thickness measuring calipers as well as a go-bar deck and perhaps some other specialist tools. The scrape of the present instrument can be used for a model. You might look for a violin maker in your area to share a brew or two with and get some informal counseling. > Good luck To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
