Dear Luters, I notice that almost everyone keeps the seventh course of their Italian theorboes as a stopped string on the first pegbox, mind all the sources I know point to having only 6 on the stopped strings, and 8 diapasons. What source (if any) gives the disposition 7 + 7 for an Italian theorbo? I assume this predilection is a modern tradition. Are there any historical sources for having 8 short and 6 long on Italian theorboes?
Obviously Weiss and Baron, et al., had 7 stopped stringsA since they were in baroque tuning without the top f'. Campion may have had 8 stopped strings, but then his "theorbo" was in fact a double luth. Any thoughts? Best, Benjamin -- [1]www.luthiste.com t +33 (0) 1 44 27 03 44 p/m +33 (0) 6 71 79 98 98 -- References 1. http://www.luthiste.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
