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Hi everyone,
I'm considering doing something a bit crazy and getting a 14 course English
theorbo, albeit one strung in D minor as a baroque lute. The logic here is that
it will allow me to play baroque music (mainly Weiss) but if I feel so inclined
I can just change the top two courses, add the 14th and then play standard 16th
century theorbo solo repertoire in A. I'm sure a double course theorbo would
sound pretty cool.
I've only just come up with the idea so I haven't really put much thought into
it which is why I'm reaching out to the collective here. Can any of you think
of the major problems with this idea?
One obvious problem will be selecting the right strings. I'm thinking I'll go
for the top 8 courses with a string length of 76 or 77 cm (for fretting) and
have the bottom 6 courses stagger up to about 135 cm. My understanding is that
Italian theorbos are single course instruments because the octave courses snap
once they are required to be beyond a certain length at a given pitch. The
English theorbo is I guess supposed to keep the octave strings short and the
bases long. I'm sure I can use plain gut for the strings that go up to 100 cm,
but beyond that is what I need to work out. I imagine beyond that they will not
work. Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm thinking I might need to go for
carbon strings? Linda Sayce's theorbo appears to use metal overwound strings
which I would prefer to avoid.
Cheers,
Jay
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<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
Hi everyone, </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
I'm considering doing something a bit crazy and getting a 14 course English
theorbo, albeit one strung in D minor as a baroque lute. The logic here is that
it will allow me to play baroque music (mainly Weiss) but if I feel so inclined
I can just change the
top two courses, add the 14th and then play standard 16th century theorbo solo
repertoire in A. I'm sure a double course theorbo would sound pretty
cool. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
I've only just come up with the idea so I haven't really put much thought into
it which is why I'm reaching out to the collective here. Can any of you think
of the major problems with this idea? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
One obvious problem will be selecting the right strings. I'm thinking I'll go
for the top 8 courses with a string length of 76 or 77 cm (for fretting) and
have the bottom 6 courses stagger up to about 135 cm. <span
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 12pt;">My
</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica,
sans-serif;">understanding</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> is that Italian
theorbos are single course instruments
</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica,
sans-serif;">because</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> the octave courses snap
once they are required to be beyond
a certain length at a given pitch. The English theorbo is I guess supposed to
keep the octave strings short and the bases long. I'm sure I can use plain gut
for the strings that go up to 100 cm, but beyond that is what I need to work
out. I imagine beyond
that they will not work. Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm thinking I
might need to go for carbon strings? Linda Sayce's theorbo appears to use metal
overwound strings which I would prefer to avoid. </span></div>
<div style=""><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div style=""><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, Helvetica,
sans-serif">Cheers<span style="font-size: 12pt;">, </span></font></div>
<div style=""><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;"><br>
</span></font></div>
<div style=""><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size: 12pt;">Jay </span></font></div>
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