Thanks Martyn,
the problem that arised was to find strings long enough at this
thinness. But a few string makers that I ´ve contacted can supply them
in 1,5, 2,4 or 3 meters even though it ´s not part of their
"regular" catalogue. But yes- I also believe that the Puget painting
shows that double stringed diapasons on longer necked lutes did exist-
he ´s so detailed
in his work that we can see the different colours of the long strings.
The first 7 courses are all in unison, and beginning wit the first long
course (the 8th), the bass courses all have different colored strings.
Best,
Magnus
On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 12:25 PM, Martyn Hodgson
<[1]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Dear Magnus,
I really don't see what the problem is: for a theorbo with doubled
octave strung basses, if your highest pitched open 7th course bass
octave is g (assuming a theorbo in nominal A), then for, say, a tension
around 3.2KG (obviously less than if single strung) the diameter of a
plain gut string of length 130cm is about 0.34mm.
This size is readily available in gut and is, indeed, the sort of
diameter required for the first course of a common renaissance lute (at
nominal G). In short, the gut size available then, as now, for lute
first course would have been equally available for the 7th course
octave of the first bass of a short second necked theorbo.
However, as Martin Shepherd points out, the present day state of this
instrument may not be as it first left the maker's workshop.....
Longer basses may have been present originally.
The famous Puget painting of Louis XIV's musicians (1687), sadly cuts
off most of the theorbo upper peghead but one can do a bit of geometry
and extend the strings upwards to a position where a reasonable
seperation double course nut may be placed - on this basis I roughly
estimate a bass extension string length of the of 155 +/- 10, but this
is, of course assuming Puget got it about right!
MH
__________________________________________________________________
From: Magnus Andersson <[2]magnusl...@gmail.com>
To: "[3]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" <[4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, 11 December 2017, 16:26
Subject: [LUTE] A stringing question for Sellas E. 545
Dear collective wisdom,
I wonder if you might be able to help me with finding
proper strings for a theorbo I ´ve commissioned.
The instrument is a theorbo by Sellas, 1640,
today housed in Paris with the label E. 545.
[1][5]http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/
MUSEE/0161799
It ´s quite a spectacular instrument with
six double strings on the fretboard, at 890 mm,
and then 8 double strings for the diapasons, at 1300 mm.
It was probably shortened sometime from its original length
into this present condition.
The problem that arises is when one wants to string the upper courses
of the diapasons. Here one needs very thin strings beginning with
0.40-0.42
for the high string of the 7th course Gg, at the string length of ca.
1500 mm...
Any ideas would be highly appreciated.
Best wishes,
Magnus Andersson
--
References
1. [6]http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/
MUSEE/0161799
To get on or off this list see list information at
[7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
2. mailto:magnusl...@gmail.com
3. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0161799
6. http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0161799
7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
