Dear Monica, Have a look at FoMRHI Comm 663 (Bulletin 41, October 1985) in which I report on two early sources of recorded violin string diameters (Tartini's and Riccati's) and their application to Strad's instructions for the chitarra tiorbata. Here's the link [1]https://www.fomrhi.org/uploads/bulletins/Fomrhi-041.pdf I presume Strad related more to the violin and hence their string sizes since these were such a substantial part of his output and more common.... I also briefly discuss the translation of his instructions which is generally in line with what you say below. I applied these sizes to guitar stringing and arrived at average tension of artound 3.2Kg per string and a total tension on the chitarra tiorbata of around 34Kg. But I thought it prudent to express some caution then, as I'll also do now: " The speculative nature of some of the previous analysis means that few unequivocal conclusions may be drawn...." Nevertheless, I believed then, and still do, it gives a reasonable indication of the tensions employed. regards Martyn
On Wednesday, 26 June 2019, 07:31:05 BST, Monica Hall <mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote: I have been puzzling over the Stradivarius stringing instructions for the chitarra ttiorbata again. I have two queries. Why should he compare the strings of the third, fourth and fifth courses to violin strings rather than those on the (presumably) standard 5-course guitar. Does this imply that they should be of a different thickness to the strings used on the guitar. Also - the first string of the violin is tuned more or less to e'' whereas the third course of the guitar is tuned g - an octave & a 6th lower. There is a considerable difference in string length between the violin and guitar. Would this make it practicable to tune the strings to completely different pitches. Here are the instructions. [First & second strings: These must be like two guitar first strings (cantini) Third & fourth strings: These must be like two guitar second strings (sotanelle)] Fifth & sixth strings: These must be like two thick violin first strings (cantini) g Seventh string: This must be a violin second string (canto) d Eighth string: This must be a guitar second string (sotanella) d' Ninth string: This must be a thicker violin second string (canto) a Tenth string: This must be a violin first string (cantino) a' They have never really seemed to make sense to me but perhaps I am missing something. As ever Monica To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. https://www.fomrhi.org/uploads/bulletins/Fomrhi-041.pdf 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html