That's true, and I would add the most of the bar chord difficulty
comes from the placement of the second course, it has to be under the
knuckle, not the finger, or it won't work. So the spacing at the nut
should factor in the bar chord as well.
d
--- On Wed, 11/14/12, Edward Mast <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Edward Mast <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: 8-ch lute strings spacing
To: "Luca Manassero" <[email protected]>
Cc: "lute" <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 3:14 PM
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]<[1][email protected]> wrote:
>
> From: Jerzy Zak [2]<[2][email protected]>
> Subject: [LUTE] 8-ch lute strings spacing
> To: "lute mailing list list" [3]<[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
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