String spacing is indeed most important. But I rarely (never?) see mentioned thickness of the neck. For a couple of years I played an 8 course lute with a rather thin neck, which I assumed to be normal. Then I got an 8 course with a thicker neck and found (I do have large hands) that barred chords that had been difficult on the thinner neck were considerably easier on the thicker neck. I quickly got rid of the thinner neck instrument. Perhaps something else to consider when buying a lute . . . Ned On Nov 14, 2012, at 5:52 PM, Luca Manassero wrote:
> Dear list, > five years ago at the Neuburg (Bavaria) Summer Academy I happened > to try an 8 course lute built for a friend of mine by Martin Shepherd: > the strings spacing fitted so perfectly that later on I e-mailed Martin > to have "his" strings spacing. I still use it on all my Renaissance > instruments. > In any case all lutemakers I approached over the last seven years > ALWAYS asked me "my" strings spacing requirements: they NEVER simply > used their without asking first. > Last but not least, I have played a few "exact copies" of museum > instruments: in all cases an extremely narrow strings spacing made them > almost unplayable (to me). Having big hands I don't see why I should > play on a very narrow, mandolin-like neck. What if the original > instrument (aka Gerle...) was originally built for a 10 years old > little girl? > Luca > David Tayler on 14/11/12 18.29 wrote: > > It depends on the player, the technique and the size of the hands, the > width of the fingers, etc., but in the critical spacing of the first > three courses I would not go below 5mm center to enter between pairs > and below 11.5 between the chanterelle and the next string over, if the > top string is single. There is a cross point at the plucking point that > is the real figure, that is, the width where the string plucked. As for > the other courses, it also depends on the string material. For an early > style lute, you can also use a "close parallel" spacing, but unless the > maker knows how to do it, I would not try it. > The reach of the hand is important in an eight course instrument, but > that depends on the hand. So at eight courses, you may have to compress > the spacing slightly if reach is an issue. If they live in California, > I can take a look, but otherwise you may have to rely on a generic > pattern, or borrow a few instruments to see if they fit. It's like > buying shoes. You can ask what shoe size you need, but you still have > to wear them. Ninety percent of lutes have the wrong spacing, so it is > worth getting it right when it is built. > dt > --- On Sun, 11/4/12, Jerzy Zak [1]<[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Jerzy Zak [2]<[email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] 8-ch lute strings spacing > To: "lute mailing list list" [3]<[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, November 4, 2012, 5:06 PM > > Dear Lutelist, > A student of mine is expacting a new 8-ch lute. The maker has little > experience with an instrument of such number of courses. So we all need > some advice from you. We need a typical spacing on both sides of > strings, aEUR|if there is such "typical" spacing, of course. Anyway, at > least a distance between the outer strings would be of help, if not all > measurements. > Thanks in advance! > Jerzy Z > --- > To get on or off this list see list information at > [1][4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > References > > 1. mailto:[email protected] > 2. mailto:[email protected] > 3. mailto:[email protected] > 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
