Hi Martin- Congrats on a beautiful, FINALLY THE REAL DEAL 10 course lute- ALL the Ribs, ALL the courses, and (drum roll please) ALL THE FRETS! And the right size/dimensional package.
Why has this been such a difficult thing to achieve? I have been so disappointed over the decades seeing these weird, ugly short neck 10 course lutes- some of them otherwise well built and beautiful, that only needed the neck lengthened to be right. I think part of the problem has been those lutenists who have been blindly, doggedly obsessed with having a "G" lute at a=440 but not having a clue about actual historical usage, concepts of pitch (absolute, relative, conjectural, etc.) and wanting an "all purpose" instrument so that performances of early to mid 16th century music will sound bright (esp. if played thumb under) & be easier to finger. Got to sympathise with that, but a shame to have compromised historical designs- which were, after all, the best. Best wishes, and please continue what you're doing! Dan On 1/12/2015 1:03 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote:
Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
