Here is a set of nine WAV files implementing
a metronome that changes tempo automatically
as it runs. The tempo changes are intended to
mimic the variations (intentional or haphazard)
of an ensemble.
The file names have an MM setting and a letter
a, b, or c. The letter indicates the size and
A hyperfast metronome (MM 200 to 600) is available
as WAV files at https://classwk.pw/fast_met_Da_2016_12.
These are valid WAV files, but they are unorthodox in
certain ways, and not all WAV players will handle them.
For me, the Chrome browser on Windows will play them.
Also the Microsoft
Here are all possible combinations of three notes
on one string without going above the fourth fret:
aaa ard bab bre rar rda dad ddb eae edr
aab are bar bda rad rdb dae ddr eba edd
aar ada bad bdb rae rdr dba ddd ebb ede
aad adb bae bdr rba rdd dbb dde ebr eea
aae adr bba bdd rbb rde dbr dea ebd
There are 81 possible sequences of four notes played on
the first three open strings.
Below is a PDF of these 81 sequences, arranged in a random
order.
You can use it as a basis for devising exercises which include
the thumb. For example, (assuming Baroque lute) alternating the
thumb between
My left thumbnails hits the back of the pegbox
some times, and makes an annoying click.
I'd like to attach a pad to the pegbox as a mute.
For adhesion, ss there a better choice than good
quality office tape (aka magic disappearing tape)?
For me it usually comes off without leaving a
residue.
/auxDocs/rhythm_practice_Da_2016_10.pdf
Sorry to anyone who printed the version with errors.
-- Herbert
On Sun, 3 Jul 2016, Herbert Ward wrote:
> As an aid in learning to sight read, below is a URL for
> all possible non-trivial rhythms in a measure, using a
> maximum of two flags.
>
As an aid in learning to sight read, below is a URL for
all possible non-trivial rhythms in a measure, using a
maximum of two flags.
There should be no duplications (ie, each measure should
be unique).
Suggestions or error reports are welcome.
The URL is
I've seen collapsible music stands made of plastic or aluminaum that weigh
about half as much as stands made of steel.
I looked in Amazon and Google, but no luck. Can anyone help? I'd be
especially interested in experiences with durability.
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I measured seven Savarez Alliance KF strings, and compared my measurements with
the sizes printed on the envelopes. These were brand-new unused strings.
There was quite a bit of inconsistency. My measurements ranged from 4% above
the envelope value to 4% below.
But it seems strange that
How about a USA website that sells Savarez lute strings?
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As an experiment, I put extremely light strings on my baroque lute.
This made the tone very difficult to control. This is pretty good
practice, but in a month or two I need to venture out of the house
with the lute.
So it's string buying time.
Can someone give me a Savarez PUL number for
I am starting a Baroque lute suite by one Johann Christian Jacobi.
The title page has "Mi bemol majeur". Does this definitely
indicate that I should tune my bass strings to an E-flat major
scale: Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G?
The PDF is at
understanding of the piece is transcribe the tablature into
> notation on two staves.
>
> RA
>
> ________
> From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu <lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu> on behalf of
> Herbert Ward <wa...@physics.utexas.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2
I appreciate the recent help with "Per illud ave".
But the piece suggested by the people here in this
forum does not match the piece in Damiani's book.
Here is an illustration showing everything:
https://classwk.pw/Jos_Da_2016_11.gif
What would be the next step in searching for
the vocal
Page 107 of Damiani's Renaissance lute method book has
a setting by Valderrabano of a piece by Josquin.
In Damiani's book, the piece is labeled "Tercero grado,
Per illud ave". It appears to be in two voices.
I need the score of the the original piece by Josquin
to resolve voicing ambiguities,
Suppose three identical lutes stored under different
conditions:
an unheated barn, out of the rain and sun, but
exposed to humidity and temperature changes (no case)
a typical modern home (no case)
a museum display case built
to the state-of-the-art in wooden instrument
I have a chance to play music with a modern violinist.
He's probably quite adept since he played with the
symphony of a large city. What music would be appropriate
for "introducing" him to the Renaissance repertoire?
I don't remembering seeing any historical duets for lute
and bowed instrument.
The force from the strap (to some extent) counters the force from the
strings. The strings pull the pegbox in one direction, and
the strap pulls it in more-or-less the opposite direction, so there
is a cancellation effect.
A strap at the pegbox would be much worse if it pulled in
the same
Here is a web page on the interior bracing of theorbos:
http://schreinerlutesandguitars.blogspot.com/2011/11/harmonic-barring-for-kaiser-theorbo.html
Near the end is a paragraph that begins This photo shows the
ends of bars The paragraph describes how to balance resonance
and power.
How difficult would it be to make a good lute
with a knot in the wood of the soundboard?
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I saw a description of the classic lute quartet
as four lutes in d'', a', g, and d.
I googled, and I searched the archives of this forum,
and I also tried Wikipedia. Very little was forthcoming.
So I have a number of questions. Is there such a thing
as the classic lute quartet? Is there a
If I'm careful to apply moisturizer specifically to
the skin around my fingernails, I get almost no
hangnails.
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In looking at the Formby line of tung oil finishes, I see
both low-gloss and high-gloss versions. For example
http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000BZZ4ZU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8psc=1
Despite tung oil in the name, the label's
fine print calls the product a varnish.
What does this mean?
The Wikipedia article on the Roman Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Roman_Empire
has an animated map of the Empire's extent (500 BC
to 1650 AD). It shows expansion from 500 BC to about
300 AD, then a collapse through 1650 AD.
It might be interesting to see such a map for the
easily over the
nut?
Sean
On Nov 29, 2014, at 8:19 AM, Herbert Ward wrote:
The last time I changed strings, I had a crochet
hook. I found it useful in manipulating the strings
in the tight confines of the pegbox.
If you would like to try it, I would suggest
size 1.8 mm. And I would
Can the question of Catholic vs Protestant
support for the historical performance and
composing of early music be summarized
briefly?
By way of supplying framework,
Martin Luther began around 1520 and the
Thirty Year's war lasted until 1648.
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But I invite all you proper physicists out there to explain why!
I have a PhD in experimental physics.
The term resonant frequency is a bit complicated.
A string has a resonant frequency (its pitch).
But a string's resonant frequency is obviously different from
a lute's resonant frequency.
I'm considering installation of geared pegs on my lute.
The website (http://www.pegheds.com) says that any
qualified repair person can do the installation. But
that is probably for violins, cellos, etc.
Would a violin repair person be able to do the installation?
Are there fundamental
As an exercise, I pose this question. A cymbal has no definite
pitch, but it rings for a long time. So it does not follow the
rules below. Why?
On Sat, 29 Nov 2014, Herbert Ward wrote:
But I invite all you proper physicists out there to explain why!
I have a PhD in experimental physics
The last time I changed strings, I had a crochet
hook. I found it useful in manipulating the strings
in the tight confines of the pegbox.
If you would like to try it, I would suggest
size 1.8 mm. And I would suggest avoiding
the cheaper hooks, as the working end is sometimes
ill-formed due
The bent-back pegbox means that a lute
has 7.5 times as much friction at
the nut as a guitar, taking angles of
10 degrees for the guitar and 80 for the
lute.
For the strings attached to the farthest
pegs (say, the fourth course) this friction
causes trouble because the strings stick
at the nut
I saw a production of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses last night.
In the orchestra was a theorbo. At least I think it was a theorbo.
It has a prominent place in the production, serving as the sole
accompaniment for approximately six of the songs.
Would it be feasible to replace the theorbo with
That is on f.22r of the ML Lute Book. Here is a link to that manuscript on
Sarge Gerbode's web site.
http://gerbode.net/facsimiles/british_library/BL_MS_Add_38539_john_sturt_lute_book/
Thank you.
In the middle of the third line, on the first course, there
are two adjacent tablature letters
I'm looking for tablature (or regular staff
notation) to John Sturt's prelude.
I understand there is only one prelude extant
from this composer.
I can't find the tablature/staff online. I
would appreciate suggestions or other help.
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Caroline --
Are there not additional possibilities?
21, 31, 32, 41, 42, 43.
In a sense yes. But I was not counting that way.
I'm like Who cares if you have a dog and a cat or a cat and a dog.
There's no difference..
You're like Use the turn signal, then turn the steering wheel. Order
One of my exercises is this: place all
four fingers of the LH on the 2nd course.
Then, select one pair of fingers at a time,
and move them in a pattern while keeping
the other pair of fingers fixed.*
In doing this exercise, I find that after
movement is initiated, I seldom get con-
fused about
What is the extent and nature of the historical
liturature which is playable on an 8-course
Renassiance lute, but not on a 7-course?
In other words, is a 7-course instrument a
workable subsitute for an 8-course?
This assumes the 7-course lutenist is willing
to retune his 7th course between
I've worn a spot on the soundboard with my RH pinkie.
The bare wood is starting to show through the finish.
Should I do anything?
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A few weeks ago I posted a question
asking whether getting the hands cold
and stiff repeatedly causes irreversible
damage.
No one answered.
I've since had an opportunity to present
the question to a university professor
of physiology.
He seemed quite competent in answering, and I
have had
Why are cold hands stiff? Maybe the ligaments
actully stiffen? Or the tendons do not slide
easily in their sheathes? Or maybe it's in the
nerves?
And, does cold cause irreversible damage?
If one iced his hands every day for a year, would
it cause long-term irreversible damage?
To get on
I'm working on Capirola's Canto Bello. Literally
translated, I suppose (based on my Spanish) that this
title means beautiful song.
Do we have an idea of what Capirola intended by
this title?
Perhaps reference to a popular song of his time?
Or perhaps reference to a precursor of the operatic
Why were frets historically made of gut rather than
bone, wood, metal, or ivory?
With gut frets, it is easy to adjust intonation.
But if hide glue were used, bone/wood/metal frets
could also be adjusted. In fact, such frets would offer
more latitude in adjustment of intonation than
gut frets,
I have some basswood, about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch
by 10 inches ( 1cm x 1cm x 20cm).
I would like to cut it into matchstick-sized
pieces, for use in tightening loose frets
(on the back of the neck).
Looking in Amazon, I did not see a tool that
seemed likely to work well.
I guess I need some type
I have a Peterson VS-II Virtual Strobe Tuner,
complete with power supply (plugs into wall),
instruction pamphlet, and quick-start pamphlet.
I do not anticipate using it, and I will
send it to a lutenist willing to reimburse
me for the shipping cost.
If interested, please send email to
Can someone write up a list of things you need to know to try
gut strings for the first time?
I know gut strings need tuning more often. And I know you need
spare chanterelles and maybe also spare octaves for the fourth
course.
What is the max nut-to-bridge distance for gut strings at A=415?
I heard a story about a well-known guitarist who
opened his case to find the soundboard deliberately
smashed. This was from one of his students.
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I contemplate writing an ear-training computer
program. It would select random pitches from
a scale and pair them with random note values
to create a melody, which the trainee would
listen to and try to reproduce (by voice or
instrument). The trainee could ask the program
to replay the melody
The little finger of my left hand (aka L4) exhibits
a variety of superfluous maneuvers when the other three
fingers move. Jerking, sudden tension, extension,
flexing, etc. Sometimes the motions are in the same
direction as the other fingers, and sometimes in
the opposite direction.
The other
This is regarding flying with a lute.
Assuming that you have a good flight case,
is it better to check your lute or
take it as a carry-on item?
When I look at the carry-on regulations,
I see that the allowed size is much too
small to accomodate a 63 cm lute. And
when I put my lute into an
for the lute...
Â
Â
good luck
Â
Bruno
2013/10/17 Herbert Ward wa...@physics.utexas.edu
This is regarding flying with a lute.
Assuming that you have a good flight case,
is it better to check your lute or
take it as a carry-on item?
When I look at the carry
I bought a Planet-Waves optical tuner. It shines
a strobe light on your string while you're tuning.
It works great with my steel-string guitar.
Positive #1:
There is no problem with jumping needles.
Positive #2:
There is no problem with competing sympathetic vibration.
Positive #3:
The is no
Someone suggested to me that you might get a
generic rectangular flight case big enough
to contain your usual lute case and foam
padding.
This would have to be much cheaper than getting
a flight case custom built.
Inside two nested cases and 2-3 inches of foam,
it seems a lute should be able
Turn on a metronome and clap
your hands in time with the ticks.
You will find that, when a clap coincides
exactly with a tick, the tick is not
audible.
I don't have equipment to measure the
error tolerance for this. I assume
it's about one hundredth of a second.
So, if your clap occurs
within
I'm working on Solus cum Sola (Dowland).
I find myself slowing down during the harder parts,
and then resuming tempo when the technical challenges
relent.
The variations in tempo don't bother me
as I listen to myself. But I wonder whether they
would be considered bad form by knowledgeable
Anyone with experience on Amtrak with a lute?
The main question, of course, is whether
you can keep the lute away from the baggage
handling system, and otherwise safe.
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The Southwest Airlines web site
http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/baggage/carryon-bags-pol.html
gives a maximum size for carry-on items
of 10 x 16 x 24 inches, which is smaller than my
lute case. I wonder whether they enforce this strictly.
From talking with other people, I have
For what it's worth, Jane Austen recorded bowing silently
as a repsonse to a question (Chapter 6, Pride and Prejudice, published 1813).
The conversation takes place between two gentlemen:
You saw me dance at Meryton, I believe, sir.
Yes, indeed, and received no inconsiderable pleasure from the
As this concerns music history, perhaps
it is not too far off topic.
What is the history of musicians bowing after
a performance? Bowing here means bending at the waist, not
using horsehair to vibrate strings.
Searching with Google yields only items concerned
with bowing strings.
To get on
Suppose one were interested in learning to speak English
with an accent approximating that that Dowland might
have had, with the idea that this might help him understand
Dowland's music better. How would one proceed? Would
any modern British accents be close?
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According to Wikipedia, Latin was the language
of scholarship, science, and internation communication
until around 1725.
However, I've not seen much of Latin in lute music.
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Are there types of lute music which benefit more
than others from gut?
Logically, one might answer fast music with thicker
textures, because there are more conflicting notes
for the gut to ameliorate.
However, subjectively I'd guess slower music with
thinner texture, because there over-long
Does anyone have numbers for the density of nylon
and the density of carbon?
Or, equivalently, a chart showing diameter x in
nylon = diameter y in carbon?
I used Google for several minutes, but did not find
anything.
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Is is possible to distinguish reliably between carbon and
nylon if the string's packaging is not available?
I've seen a knowledgeable person rub the string, but I don't
know whether he was listening to the sound, feeling the
texture, or judging some other aspect.
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Possibly of interest to the list community.
Sorry if I'm posting old news.
http://gamutmusic.squarespace.com/news/string-economics-101.html
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In building a lute (and especially the sound board),
is there a trade-off between tone and volume? Or
does optimizing one automatically optimize the other?
And similarly, is there a trade-off between tone
and durability? In other words, can the builder achieve
a better tone at the cost of a
Some of the pressure from the LH fingers is
to prevent buzz. For example, if the string laid against
the fret with zero distance, you'd still have to apply
a considerable amount of pressure to prevent buzz.
Factors are:
(a) the distance from string to fret,
(b) the string tension,
(c) the
I bought a Pakistani lute about 7 years ago. Waste of money. Not playable.
It was only a month before I went ahead and bought a real lute.
Maybe they've gotten better since then
On Tue, 31 Jul 2012, A.J. Padilla MD wrote:
As I recall, over the years there have been several threads
I've always assumed that little of the folk music
from 1400-1650 has survived, except for that preserved
as lute arrangements (Go From My Window, Fortune
My Foe, etc.), because of the low literacy and the
high cost of paper.
Is this accurate?
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I would suggest Fwenyana not fwaynyana. r
Muchas gracias a todos Ustedes por la ayuda.
-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
Behalf Of Stephen Fryer
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 11:36 AM
To: Herbert Ward
Cc: lute
Is Fuenllana pronunced fwayn-YANnah in analogy to the modern Spanish word
fue?
Or is it pronounced foo-en-YANnah, which I've heard more often?
Do we know much about pronunciation in the 16th centurey Spain?
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I've often heard of a loose brace causing buzzing.
But never I've heard of a loose brace causing damage
because of the lost support.
How much of the bracing would have to be lost to
make the lute (especially the soundboard) liable to
damage?
And, is there a domino effect, where one loose brace
I asked a luthier how he broke the glue joint in doing
a repair. I expected to hear a description of some
variation of wet heat.
To my surprise, he said that he used anhydrous ethyl
alcohol (eg, 190 proof Everclear liquor).
He said that the alcohol drawa all the water out of the
glue, and that
How do you apply it Ed? Do you take it completely off the lute, or
apply with extreme care and a match stick, or similar?
I'd guess that slipping a sheet of wax paper or plastic between
the lute and the string would be as safe as removing the string
entirely.
I'd use a double layer: paper
Check that the super glue does not, by any chance, dissolve
the plastic.
On Sun, 29 Jan 2012, Herbert Ward wrote:
How do you apply it Ed? Do you take it completely off the lute, or
apply with extreme care and a match stick, or similar?
I'd guess that slipping a sheet of wax paper
I just got 5 ounces of cosmetic grade beeswax. This is plenty
for me, so if you would liks a free sample (a few grams) and
you're willing to send me a stamped self-addressed envelope,
send me email at wardhj...@hotmail.com.
And, while we're on the subject, how might one remove
beeswax from
I have a bottle of witch-hazel, a topical medicine
available in any drug store. The label says that it
is an astringent.
The Wikipedia ariticle on astringents says that they
dry, harden, and protect the skin.
This makes me wonder whether there are circumstances
under which witch-hazel might be
We had a discussion similar to this three years ago
(Dec 7 2008). However, I'd like to revisit the subject with
my question rephrased to focus more closely on my problem.
Stretching of strings between the nut and the peg is causing
me severe difficulty in tuning -- I can turn the peg
90 or 120
I'm interested in any remedies for cold finger tips, which I invariably get
when I play a gig in a cold room.
Very frustrating-fingerless gloves? chemicals?, Holding a cup of tea an hour
before?
Method 1 of 2:
They sell chemical hand warmers (iron powder with a catalyst for oxidation).
If
For what's it's worth, you can objectively measure inharmonicity using
a strobe tuner. Inharmonicity appears as relative movement of the octave
bands in the display (ie, the bands are moving relative to each other).
BTW: There are some LCD display strobe tuners which I suspect
are not true
When I do p-i scales, I notice that my m finger moves quite a bit
along with the i finger.
Do these two fingers (m and i) share tendons or muscles?
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To make superglue dry instantly, you can use a solution of
baking soda (not baking powder) in water. If you want a
smooth surface, be sure the baking soda is completely dissovled
in the water.
Certain adhesives used by surgeons, though similar to superglue,
are distinct, as discussed here
Laboring under the idea that the Renaissance musicians were a product
of their times, I wonder to what extent it might be possible to visit,
as a tourist, spots in the world with Renaissance-like attributes in
their culture (cities, neighborhoods, music schools, etc).
To get on or off this
Here is the same ear training (ascending
and descending melodic intervals) in MP3 format:
http://classwk.net/auxDocs/eartraining.mp3
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Here is a free WAV file for ear training. In the past,
I have found such ear training musically helpful and
challenging. I once audited a course in introductory
musicianship at a large music school, and this type of
ear training was an important part.
Please do not advertise the WAV file
I would like to make or obtain a computer-generated MP3 file
or CD for ear training, adapted to lute playing.
If I make my own, besides the usual identification of
intervals and chords, I would like to include identification
of scales. My initial choice of scales is:
major
natural
I'm interested in putting a strap button
onto my lute close to the neck-body joint
(ie, around the 11th fret).
Before investing the time, money,
and irreversibility in having one
installed, I'd like to try a
temporary button at that location.
Is it feasible to attach such a temporary
Thanks for the info. But did our historical forebears think of
these words good and bad in the context of morality or
religion?
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Everyone is familiar with the idea of strong and weak
beats. I remember reading that, at some historical
time and place, these were called good and bad beats
(perhaps not in English). Any info on this?
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There is a lubricant called Guitar Grease. From appearances,
it is graphite suspended in hard wax.
I tried it on two nut slots, and I think it works signficantly
better than soft (6B) pencil lead.
Does anyone have anything negative to say about this stuff?
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What is a good hand moisturizer for lute playing?
Lubriderm moisturizes well. But it leaves my fingers
catchy, even to the point of squeaking slightly on
the strings.
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I have an old Peterson mechanical-wheel strobe tuner. It is
big, heavy, expensive, and must be plugged into the wall for power. But
it works much better than any battery-powered tuner, including those
which have strobe in their names.
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A mechanical-wheel strobe tuner has several advantages over the
battery-powered strobe tuners that I've seen.
By showing multiple octaves (four or five of them) simulataneously, it
gives you an instant, easy-to-see, and unambiguous indication of whether
a string is false.
Since it has no
Do you need to change a fret if it looks OK under a magnifying glass?
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, and the wire typically
gets broken just before the nut when I tunehence
giving me a rather dead sounding string Wonder if I could at least splice
it to give it extra life...
Â
thx
Â
Bruno Cognyl-Fournier
www.estavel.org
Â
Â
On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Herbert Ward wa
Overspun strings from Pyramid have weird
gauge numbers, for example, 1124, 1016,
and 10095. They are not, I think, simple
diameters, since the 10095 string is smaller
than the 1124 string.
How does one interpret these numbers?
Optimal would be a table with the linear
density, like this:
Some weeks ago, I saw here a reference to an x-strap. Google sheds very
little light
on this subject. Could someone provide further information?
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The MSDS for super glue and the Wikipedia article both
warn against using super glue with cotton. So, when splicing strings,
using the technique discussed earlier, it might be better to use 100% polyester
thread instead of cotton thread.
I have had good success splicing metal overspun strings
I have Dowland's Fortune My Foe. I believe there is a
set of divisions (or trebles) to it which make the piece playable as
a duet. Can anyone help me find these divisions?
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I have used super glue to splice strings overspun with metal.
There were no bulges, but it worked OK anyhow.
To harden super glue instantly, apply a mixture of baking soda
and water to the glue.
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Can anyone recommend a place to buy the book
Method for the Baroque Lute by Miguel Serdoura?
I've found it at
www.sheetmusicplus.com
www.utorpheus.com
www.di-arezzo.co.uk
but I've no experience with any of these
sellers, and in particular I'm worried about
possible troubles in buying
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