A matchstick sounds like 'appropriate technology' - and it has a long and honourable history, since the days when tinderboxes fell into disuse. My usual plan of attack on a loose gut fret is first of all to dampen it a little. Gut, unlike nylon, tightens when damp - though it may take a day or two of repeated dampening for it to achieve the desired effect. Then to maintain tightness, a little humidifier in the lute case won't go amiss. Bill From: Daniel F. Heiman <[email protected]> To: 'alexander' <[email protected]>; 'Rockford Mjos' <[email protected]> Cc: 'Dan Winheld' <[email protected]>; 'Herbert Ward' <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Monday, 10 February 2014, 13:43 Subject: [LUTE] Re: And, to reiterate Why not just use a matchstick? Daniel -----Original Message----- From: [1][email protected] [mailto:[2][email protected]] On Behalf Of alexander Sent: 10 February, 2014 03:28 To: Rockford Mjos Cc: Dan Winheld; Herbert Ward; [3][email protected] Subject: [LUTE] And, to reiterate If someone decides to saw off some tiny pieces of wood, for whatever purpose, and do it with a precision, A surgical bone saw is the best and quickest tool. Practically no wood wasted, too. That was the question. alexander r. > I find fret shims sometimes useful on my archlute and theorbo, where I don't always get a new fret tight enough before that very short slide up to position. Instead of throwing that new fret out I will shim with wood or rolled thick paper. If older frets become loose but are still serviceable, I may also shim. > > But new frets make the instruments sound their best. > > -- R > > "I could whittle with a utility knife, but that would be wasteful > > and time consuming." > > > > "I find that a surgical saw, something like what one can find even > > on Amazon (Satterlee Bone Saw 13") is an ideal tool. A very thin blade with sharp teeth. Just make sure you do not cut yourself in the process... It is actually ideal for many uses with wood, bone and plastics." > > > > Guys, > > > > Why would either of you go to all that bother, rather than merely replacing the fret? Of course, an emergency situation (5 minutes before show time, during rehearsal, or stuck out somewhere beyond easy reach of the postal service & no spare gut) is another story. To get on or off this list see list information at [4]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
