No. 28 July 1982 FOMRHI Quarterly · 417 Computing Lute Rib Shapes. R. J. Peckham. 418 Braga Cathedral - Gospel Organ. L. A. Esteves Pereira. 419 L°tLRB]TCp°f BarDqUe Flute-T-verso - [PDF Document] (2024)

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• No. 28 July 1982

  FOMRHI Quarterly BULLETIN 28 and SUPPLEMENT

  DATA available from: Musee Grobet. Labadie P a r i s Conserva toi re , Musikmuseet Stockholm.'

  BOOK NEWS

  BOUWBRIEF CONTENTS

  LIST OF MEMBERS SUPPLEMENT

  COMMUNIC A T IONS

  417 Computing Lute Rib Shapes. R. J. Peckham.

  418 Braga Cathedral - Gospel Organ. L. A. Es t eves P e r e i ra .

  4 1 9 L°tLRB]TCp°f B a r D q U e F l u t e - T - v e r s o . IVThe Tone and the Blowing P r o c e s s . F. Raudonikas.

  420 Lute Action. Lawrence D. Brown.

  421 A New Edition of Langwil l ' s Index- W. Waterhouse .

  REVIEWS

  -4225 H i 0H i S i 0Chg n , a dr0 : ' ^ G u i t a r Method' Ed.Brian Jeffery. S o ^ * ^ v ? Edinburgh Universi ty Collect i o n /j . M Catalogues of Exhibitions at the Dre ie ich-Museum. j MMusical Instrument Collection*. Catalogues and Cognate' L i t e r atu r e by J. Coover. J. M . a g n a t e

  12

  15

  16

  22

  17

  24

  26

  34

  40

  F ET„Tc" TmSAm BESTORERS OF HISTO— ™ M E N T S Hon. * . . ^ M on U g u . c / o F a c u l t y o t ^ ^ ^ ^ ^NTS

• FoMRHI Bulletin no.28 July, 1982

  We start, for once recently, pretty well up to time; whether wecan get this to you before July is out I'm not sure. It will dependon our printer's holiday plans, and even more on Djilda'sarrangements because, please note, Djilda. Eph and NRI are movingto:

  6 Needham Avenue, Chorlton, Manchester M2l 2AA; tel: 061-8812134

  If she's moving that lot (and two kids), then there may bedelays in getting this out to the printer. Anyway, please make anote of the new address for any Comms etc that you send direct toher.

  POSTING FoMRHIQ; We are still having problems with this. When Iwas in Sweden last month, I found that Cary Karp had received his Qby surface (he pays for airmail), even though it was stamped LETTERin large letters. Do any of the rest of you have this prob-lem?It's difficult to tell, unless the date on the postmark is legible,as you don't know when it was posted, but if you can read the date,please let us know if a Q that should have gone by air takes morethan a week or ten days. Not that I know what we can do about it,except perhaps use airmail stickers (which they tell us not to do!)on copies for Europe. Some of you don't get a copy at all, butthat's the post office; they always manage to lose one or two (Ican't imagine how; they all have a return address on them), and wecan only apologise for them and replace them as soon as you tellme. Do tell me, please; one poor chap (also in Sweden) had hadnothing at all since October and didn't tell me till I met himthere. I suppose the answer is to give us about 6 weeks from thebeginning of the month (ie about 4 weeks to be late and two weeksfor postage) for air, and a couple of months for surface. Sometimeswe are later than that (eg the last two issues) but if you don'tget your Q by the end of the month after the dateline (ie end ofAugust for this one), something is going wrong.

  LEGIBILITY: Paul Gretton sent: Improving; the legibility of/Qh^Il, contributions

  Members might like to compare my article on pp.15-18 of 'Jo.26with any of my previous attempts, for example pp.4p-52 of lfo.24.They, like this note, were all typed on the same non-electricportable with the -ame fabric ribbon. The considerable improve-mentin blackness in [Co.26 was achieved by simply sending Jeremy notthe original typescript as I had always done previously, but "hephotocopy which I usually have bound in full morocco and ~old formy archives. The result when reproduced by offset in j QtiriHlQ isa pretty fair imitation of electric typing with a plastic ribbon.The photocopy must be a really good one, done on a Quality machinethat gives high contrast. I get it done at a local jobbingprinter's shop or at the university library.

  Several members commented on the little dots for the title pageand Eph's articles in the last Q. I had a word with Djilda about itand she said that they've now got a different word-processor whichruns the dots closer together and she (and I) hope that this Q willbe better in that respect. The last one did look a bit as thoughthe mice had been at the print.

  FURTHER TO: Bull.27 P.6: I said that Paul Mosby's West Deancourse looked a bit pricey. Donald S.Gill wrote to say that coursesthere are very good value for money, even though the prices do loorhig! The accomodation is good and the food is superb, he says.

  Bull.27 p.7: I made a remark in passing on oboe bores. Paul il-_±-perin writes: "I definitely prefer a smooth oboe bore, i.e.as

  I

• b u l l . 2 8 . p . 5

  comes from a good t o o l . "

  David Owen w r i t e s : In reply to Paul Kemneft's query (endof Bul l . 27, p?) as to how

  cy l ind r i ca l bores are/were smoothed ( in ,say ,renaissance f l u t e s ) .

  1. Dealin^ • i t h present day p o s s i b i l i t i e s . I t is possible with properly designed 'D' b i t s to produce a bore fin i sh which i s good enou*h not to need reaming. (This could bethe subject of a Communication(?)). However, assuming a bore hasbeen produced wnich does need reaMin* t h i s can be done byvarious methods ranging from a very simply constructed ' f l a t 1reamer on a Ion? enou 'h shank to pass alon.", the len th of therequired bore; or be t t e r s t i l l i f you want to ream boresof many d i f fe ren t s izes ootain 'Narex' adjustable reamers.These are ava i l ab le in d i f fe ren t s i ze s and are i n f in i t e l y adjus table within l i m i t s . i t i s /was possibleto obtain them to cover bore s i zes from 10.25 mm to 33«00 ram.They are obtainable from Tilgear , 8-12, Windmill n i l l ,Enfield, Middx. EN2 6SA. The shanks are short so i t i s necessaryto adapt the end6 to f i t longer shanks when they are used for e .> renaissance f l u t e ? . They are capable of producing a"mirror" f in i sh in hard woods such as box, blackv.ood e t c .and a very smooth f in ish in maple, pear e t c .

  2. When the bore surface i s examined of museum specimen ofrenaissance f l u t e s , i t i s frequently possible to see s p ir a l tool marks. xhe ' twist* of the s p i r a l i s often toocoarse (as in some of the Verona f lu tes) to have been nade by a•w b i t that wan removing any bulk of mater ia l , but may ve i lhave oeen m^de by a ' w b i t which v.-as tnkin ; a "f inishingcut" and via;; therefore penetrat ing fas t in r e l a t i on tothe s reed of ro ta t ion of the f lu te in the l a t h e . I s trongly bel ieve fron documentary evidence that these f luter werebored on continuously ro t a t ing (not reciprocat ing) l a theswith • D' b i t s , ce r t ; ' i ly in the ear ly or raidseventeenth century if not e a r l i e r .

  ne

• bull.28. p.4

  Grants are offered in different categories each year; candidateswhose trade, profession or personal interests are covered by any ofthem may propose a project thev wish to carry out in whatevercountries they choose. The only requirement is that applicants haveto show that they can make effective use of the opportunity bothwhile they are ebrd^d and when they return.

  The final selection for the next group of awards will he made byinterview in London in January 19O3- Successful candidates will beexpected to start their travels during that year, making their ownplans and arrangements within the scope of the grants. The grantwill cover return air fare, plus all travel and living expensesabroad for a period of about two months.

  To apply send your name and address only on a postcard betweennuguet and Nid October to the 'Vinston Churchill hernorial i'rust,15 Queen's uate Terrace, London SW7 5FK- You will receive anexplanatory leeflet and a form to complete, which must reach theTrust Cffire by 27th Cctcber 1982.

  I wrote to them, when I got this, because I had applied in theearV days of the Trust and had an unfortunate response. I hadwanted to go to India and received a strong impression, at theinterview, that it was nonsense to suggest that we might be able tolearn from these non-Europeans (to put i politely). I am assured"that there are no cultural limitations to our TravellingFellowships. In the first instance they are awarded for originalityand usefulness of project and in the final analysis to people ofcharacter and enterprise who are likely to be good representativesof this country and able to put into effect the information theygained on their Travelling Fellowships". So that means that theywouldn't bar you from going to see how a lute is made today, forinstance (though I wouldn't suggest going to Lebanon at themoment!). If you think you're eli-gible, do write to them. They'reopen to all UK Citizens; there's no age limit; there are n ospecial qualifications; they say the average stay overseas is eightweeks, and all expenses are paid.

  SOUND BOARDS: George Bowden writes:

  -.erne time ago there -as discussion in the bulletin fib out whysound boards nht; ud be cut with the grain at exactly Vo degrees,or perfectly "edge grain".

  i have cut a Jot of soundboards here from Western h-tid uedfirLogs. There are two thin s guitar makers 1 riave Known look for inthr*ir sourdboards.

  The fix-tit was u s iffness felt when holding the board in thehands on either edge, flexing the board to test its stiffness. Irepeat holding the board at the two edges, not the two ends, thegrain running from end to end. Jome boards or tops being very''loppy were rejected for good quality guitars and others whichwere surprisingly stiff, being of the same wood,were selected.

  Other guitar make s just looked at the board -,nd if they sawthe "cross flower" (1 believe this is the name for it in Snglish)tr,is was selected.

  The stiff boards wen? always with the grain perfectly at 90degrees and also the b cj.rds or tops which had the "cross flower"h.-.d the grain at 90 decrees, if* the grain was not 90 degrees oredge grain then the boards were floppy or not stiff.

  The cross flower 1 take to be the medulliary rays which arevisible when the cut slices them their full length, or at 90decrees to the .-rain.

• bull.28. p.5

  taking off JjJQt 3 h i S a-°Pearance ^ quality one has to keepto S L thp Jjf ° f r o o d / r o m the bloc* being sawn in order Pto keep the grain vertical which is very wasteful. A process c o sV T o * ^ 1 ^ s a w m i l l s resulting very expensive, itcertainly cost me a lot of money in time to get good guitartops.

  don't n t ,f10ther odd occurance is that some guitar buyers . 15 . ^ appearance of tops showing the cross flower as

  it absorbes the colour unevenly, they consider it ugly. All 1can say is "take a look at scne of the famous guitars". _.+!. ,.,,.^l?0?6 my explanation can be understood, it is wh«?6? difficult toexplain. I don't write much as l'feel that *hat 1 have to say isprobably already known, if so olease -crgive me for wasting yourtime.

  MATERIALS: George Bowden again:

  Copal varnish, come time ago j. enquired if anyone knew where toget the real stuff but we had no replies.

  I have now found a supply of Copal but need a recipe for makinga varnish with it. The main ingredient must be copal so that itwill be very flexible 1 understand.

  If any memambers know how to make Copal varnish 1 wou^dappreciate the recipe.

  Probably the members all know about this firm but 1 have justfound it and they seem to î ave a wide range of materials forvarnishing. Also they can write in English and hove a catalogue inEnglish, in case it is of interest 1 give the name andaddress:-

  Adler Drogerie, Josef Hammerl KG 8523 Baiersdorf "aupstrasse 18Postfach 9 West Germany.

  Woods: W.& C.Marshall Ltd of 2 Drysdale Street, KingslandRoad, London Nl 6NA, tel:01-739 8236/7 have stocks of exotichardwoods, purchased from manufacturers of musical instruments,including rosewood, cherry, cedar, sycamore, ebony, lime, walnut*and hyedua and would be happy to welcome customers; their letter isdated 7th May.

  Donald S.Gill sent me a copy of his letter to Ronald Peel, whoasked for wood suppliers in the last issue. His lists the followingfirms who have specifically mentioned exotic woods in theiradver-tisem*nts in the Woodworker magazine recently: -North HeighamSawmills, Paddock St (off Barker St), Norwich NR2 4TW Robbins Ltd,Merrywood Mills, Beelminster, Bristol Chart (phone no only) Reading(073̂ +) 695336, evenings & Saturdays Timberline, la LangtonRoad, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (Donald has bought from them). And twowho advertise wood for musical instruments: A.Highfield & Co,Rosewood House, Bridge Road, Downham Market, Norfolk TouchstoneTonewoods Ltd, 27 Lesboume Road, Reigate, Surrey Finally awoodturner from whom Donald has bought small consignments: BruceBoulter, 12 Colview Court, Mottingham Lane, London SE9 4RP. JeffHildreth (new address in Supplement herewith) "can supply anextremely rare wood in small quantities for frogs, pegs, etc. Knownin the USA as 'mountain mahogany' it is not a mahogany but a shrubgrowing to a maximum of twelve feet in height. The wood is as denseas ebony without the brittlenc ;

• i-r U.X -A. » £.0 , p.t>

  beautifully and the nut-brown wood polishes nicely. Its propername is Cercocarpus Ledifolius."

  James Crabtree of Acoustic Timbre Co, 231*+ Adanac StreetAbbotsford, B.C., Canada V2S 4S9 sent:

  We're writing to inform you of a supply of excellent musicalinstrument wood. As an example, we have high grade Alaskan SitkaSpruce, eighteen rings per inch or better, dried to eight percenthumidity, very white wood and the end grain slope is not more thanseven degrees. Because we use specialised, exclusive log handlingequipment, end grain is usually ninety degrees. All of the musicalinstrument wood is chosen from millions of board feet of high gradelumber

  Our supply of quality woods include book matched sets of:

  Order #

  1. Guitar top. master grade sitka spruce (22" * 8'IJ" X 3/16")$14.00 2. Guitar top, number one grade sitka spruce (22" * 8 V4 " *3/16") $12.00 3. Guitar top, master grade red cedar (22" x 8 f t "* 3/16" $13.00 4. Guitar top. number one grade red cedar (22" *8V4" x 3/16") $11.00 5. Lute top. number one grade sitka spruce (9"x 26" x 1 /{)") $13.00 6. Lute top, number one grade red cedar (9"x 26" * 1/8") $11.00 7. Mandolin top, number one grade sitka spruce(6" x#6" x 3/16") $8.00 8. Mandolin top, number one grade red cedar(6" * 16" * 3/16") $6.00 9. Dulcimer top. number one grade sitkaspruce and red cedar (32" x 4" x 3/16") $3.26

  10. Hammer Dulcimer lop, number one grade sitka spruce & redcedar (36" x 18" * 3/16") $11.00 11. Minstrel Harp top, number onegrade sitka spruce, all horizontally book matched pieces (38" x 10"x 3 / 1 6 " ) . . . . $14.00 12. Renaissance Harp top. number onegrade sitka spruce, all horizontally book matched pieces (56" x 12"x 3/16") $23.00 13. Sitka spruce brace stock

• bull.28. p.7

  them, and if you get together and order ten, you can have a 1096discount. Overseas, they cost £4.00 each, but there's no VAT toadd; postage is £1.50 to Europe and £2.00 further afield, againcovering up to five of them. They don't allow discount forover-

  A -0MV«M>'«4 n a v e oau-u oiiciu i/A-î jf u v u w 9KÂ ŜSJL.J wavV/^i *•»« *.iiu \jn^ vDlIu

  that I didn't ask them was what they would charge for extrafibre optics without torches if you want a selection of differentlengths, but since you don't lose light from the sides of thefibre, it's probably as easy to keep the full length.

  I have made a rigid light probe, which may interest you. It'ssimply a piece of perspex rod fitted into a rubber spark-plug cover(obtainable at any motor spare shop) and fitting over the top of apen torch, if the sides of the perspex are polished (Brasso does itwell) no light escapes; the tip is left unpolished and the lighttherefore comes out there. Useful for poking in a fingerhole whilepeering down the bore, but of course you can't bend it (exceptsemi-permanently with heat), so for a lot of jobs the Probelight ismuch better.

  While on such subjects, it seems from various conversations thatwhile most of you have pitchmeters like the Korg which give thevariation from equal temperament in cents, not everyone knows howto convert that into Hertz. Eph taught me how, years ago (see Comm.21), but a quick recap might be useful: You need a pocketcalcula-tor with logs. You need to know that there are 1200 centsin an octave. Say that you play a G, which comes out 40 cents flat.G is 200 cents below A, 200 from 1200 is 1000, and you're 40flatter, so that's 960. Divide 960 by a constant (3986.3137 forordinary logs; 1731.234 for log n), take the antilog (for heaven'ssake make sure it's the same sort as the constant; the constant forone and the antilog for the other leads to chaos) and multiply by220; the answer is then the Hertz for that note. If you want the Afor that pitch, as quick a way as any is to multiply the result(383) by 12th root of two twice, giving you 429.9. Wonderful thingswe carry in our pockets today.

  PLANS ETC.: Hubert Keller is just back from France. He has senta two-page list of instruments from a museum in Marseille and a newlist from the Paris Conservatoire of their plans; there are fournew ones, and there'll be a fifth (of the Voboam E.2087) later thissummer. See further on in this Q for the list and the list ofplans.

  I have got a complete set of the plans produced by the StockholmMusikmuseet. There's a list of these further on, too. For themoment the plans are here, at the Bate, and anyone who wants to seethem, to find out whether they want to order them, is welcome tocome and look at them. They are not for copying. I'm not surewhether they are supposed to wind up with Eph & Djilda or withNRI Design Library; I'll have to sort that out with Djilda, but forthe moment they're here and will probably stay here till they'vesorted out their move.

  QUERIES: Jeff Hildreth (new address in this Supplement) asks ifany-one knows where he can get Brazilian rosewood in boards orlogs.

  He is also still looking for information on bows and on thenyckel-harpa. I remember last time he asked referring him to JanLing's book The Nyckelharpa (published by the StockholmMusikmuseet) and I'm not sure what else he wants to know; theinformation in that is pretty complete.

  George Bowden is trying to identify a guitar (see next page; thephoto he sent may come out). My imroe

• bull.28. p.8

  and a Canadian friend of George's had a memory of seeingsomething similar in a picture of the Moscow Guitar Society in1915. Anyway, George would be grateful for any information aboutthe instrument and in p'articular for any location of one in amuseum or other collection which he could study, since it could bepossible to make a much improved version of the Spanish 10-stringguitar on these lines. He has seen something like it, bought andperhaps made in Italy, which had the big bass extension but whichdid not have the arch joining the bass side to peg-box. Any gelp orcomments would be gratefully received.

  Marc Champollion (new member; address in this Supplement) hasthree questions: 1) has anyone"any experience or information aboutbass strings for harpsichords made of silver, gilt silver, gold orplatin?" 2)"What happened to that clavichord/spinet (Coram.370)?"3) "Does anyone have measurements and pitch tables of ivoryone-keyed Cahusac flutes or wish some? We have three Cahusac, twoof them of ivory". OTHER SOCIETIES: NEMA (The National Early MusicAssociation) had planned to hold its first AGM this month, but railstrikes have made this difficult, so it'll be in September sometime. This will be before our next Q appears, so if you'reinterested and haven't yet joined and are not sure that you willsee a notice of it (the date isn't fixed yet or I'd tell you),write to Francesca McManus and ask her to let you know. Whateverthe AGM decides about subscrip-tion rates, those who join now cando so at the initial rate of £10, and if NEMA is to be thesuccessful umbrella group for all of us, both as individuals and associeties like FoMRHI, Galpin and all the rest (and for playinggroups), that it could and should be, it is going to be importantfor all of us to join. NEMA could be the or-ganisation to bringpressure to bear on all sorts of bodies (eg those that dispensefunds and provide opportunities for more performance, training andeverything else) but it will only be able to do so if it can speakfor all of us in the same sort of ways that the CBI can speak forall major industries and all the other big trade associa-tionsdo.

  The Ruckers-Genootschap is starting a series of publicationscalled Mededelingen van het Ruckers-Genootschap (with Englishsummaries). The first volume will be out soon and will be on thegenealogical tree of the Ruckers/Couchet family. Cost per issue is140 Belgian francs (120 for members of the Genootschap) plus 120Bfr postage abroad (which includes bank conversion costs) or 20 inBelgium. Their address is Vleeshouwersstraat 38-40, B-2000Antwerpen, Belgium.

  Lawrence Brown says that he has been elected to the Board of Diectors of the Guild of American Luthiers. Like us, the function ofthe GAL is information-sharing and they produce a large number ofdata sheets. We were going to reprint thier list of them in Q 24,but the;re were snags: it was too faint to print from, it was anodd size in relation to our page size and it was already very smallprint whio h would probably have come out too small to read. Ifthey can send us a darker copy we might have another crack it;meanwhile, if you're * interested, write to Tim 01sen, 8222 SouthPark Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98408, USA, and have a look at Bull.24,p.7.

  s

• bull .28. p.9

  COURSES: The Centre de Musique Ancienne (8 rue Charles-Bonnet,CH-1206 Geneve, Switzerland) are running a whole string of coursesover the next academic year, mostly playing various instruments(shawm, recorder, traverso, oboe, violin, viol, lute, cello andkeyboards, all baroque and/or classical), singing and dancing; theyseem mostly to be spread out (eg every Thursday, or six week-endsand so on), but if you're within reach and interested get in touchwith them.

  The Istituto Musicale Comraunale, 1-12087 Pamparato (Cuneo),Italy, have as usual sent me a notice of this year's courses onplaying and naking various instruments too late to be any use toyou, but it's worth writing them, if you're interested, in the hopethat they will tell you next year soon enough for you to apply.They play most things and make harpsichord, clavichord andlute.

  EXHIBITION: There is to be a Semaine Internationale de laMusique at the Grand Palais in Paris next March. Their "ambition isto assemble, on the very top-level, all the different branchesinvolved in music: Music publishers, Musical InstrumentManufacturers...." etc etc. They didn't enclose the form to bereturned, so I don't know what, if anything, they are chargingexhibitors, but if you're interested, write to J.P.Jouet or JessieWestenholtz at Soditec, 62 rue de Miromesnil, Paris 75008,France.

  CIMCIM CONFERENCE: I told you in the last Bulletin that I wasgoing to this last month. It was a very successful conference. Westarted in Oslo (Norsk Folkmuseum), went on to Trondheim (RingveMuseum), then to Stockholm (Musikmuseet and StiftelsenMusikkultu-rens framjande) and wound up in Copenhagen(Musikhistorisk Museet & Carl Claudius' Samling, which are nowcombined). The idea was to study exhibition and display techniquesin the various museums, and it was sufficiently hard-working thatthere was very little time to make any notes of the instrumentsthat one was seeing. All have instruments worth seeing, but bear inmind that on a casual visit you won't see what's in the stores.From that point of view, it's particularly important to makeprevious appointment at the Stock-holm Musikmuseet, which showsonly a small part of its collection, and the StiftelsenMusikkulturens framjande (which is often not open at all); for theformer, get in touch with Cary Karp and for the latter with GoranGrahn (new address in this Supplement). Ringve has most of whatthere is on show (there's a new edition of the catalogue that PeterAndreas Kjeldsberg was going to send me for review but he hasn'tyet). Copenhagen has a vast amount on show and it's a superbcollection; they used to be members but dropped out, I thinkbecause the October Q went straight into the library and nobodynoticed that it had the renewal form in it, and they may wellrenew. Their address is Aabenraa 30 and be careful; they are closedon Monday and whichever day Torsdag is; other days they are openfrom 1 to 4 pm, except Onsdag, which is 10-1. The curator is MetteMuller. Obviously if you want to do anything more than walk romdlooking at any of these museums (or any other) you have to write inadvance.

  BATE COLLECTION: We are gradually getting straight; all thebrass and percussion is set, though it's not al labelled yet.Woodwind will get started as soon as I've finished this. I shall behere right through the summer, getting it finished (I hope), but doring up before you come (unless you're coming to Oxford for otherreasons) a) because I shall take the odd day off here and there,particularly if the weather's nice (J), and b) because we shallhave the builders coming in to dig up the floor at some stage (Ihope - if not we won't have any heating next winter either). I amnow following the example of a lot of other museums; if peoplemeasure things here, I do expect to xerox their notes before theyleave-^=======

  See Also

  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 100 Crucial Omissions - Best Classic BandsPIP changes and UC migration – how will the election affect them?136kg aluminium Tripod SWLPIP changes and UC migration – how will the election affect them?

• bull.28. p.10

  grateful to receive a finished copy of drawings or measurements,especially if I am permitted to copy the result for others (I don'tinsist on this, but I do my best to; the point is that it doesn'tdo instruments any good if they are measured again and again, andso if the measurements we've got are adequate, it does help topreserve the instruments for the future).

  DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 4th October here, please, for anythingfor the Bulletin, with a margin of up to a week later for Commsthat are sent straight to Djilda, but only if they are sent to hernew address "s on the first page of this lot (or as in theSupplement herewith).

  FINALE: (and ab out time too) That's the lot unless anythingelse comes in tomorrow while I'm doing the Members List Supplement.Have a good summer,

  Jeremy Montagu c/o Faculty of Music St.Aldate's Oxford 0X11DB

  PS One thing I meant to say: this issue will be a bit thin, Ithink, ^Hough not as thin as the last one would have been if Ephhadn't wanted to play with his new word-processor. The thing is, ifyou don't write it, we can't print it. So, if ever you think thatyou aren't getting as much for your sub as you should be, theremedy is in your hands; the more you write, the better money'sworth everyone else will get, and if they write too, you'll benefitas well.

  BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT D. S.

  The Early Guitar, one day seminars Sunday 31st.October and7th.Novemberl982.

  For the fourth year, the Guitar Study Centre i s organising twoone-day courses on the reper to i re and the performing techniouesof the Baroque Guitar. The courses wi l l take place in Sj.E.Londonand wi l l be directed by Harvey Hope. Some of the remarkable gu it a r s from his extensive co l lec t ion wi l l be on display to il l u s t r a t e the developments in construct ion which tookolace during the 17th. and ltfth. cen tur ies , and the differencein tonal qua l i ty between ear ly French, I t a l i a n , andGerman g u i t a r s . Amongst these instruments wil l be twoVoboams - the e a r l i e s t known example by Alexandre and theother by Jean; a rna^niTicent ivory and to r to i seshe l l gu i ta r by Joachim Tielke; and a gui ta r which recent evidencesuggests may be a h i t h e r t o unrecorded example from theTielke workshops. Some instruments are unrestored with t he i rbacks removed. A wide se lec t ion of 18th. and 19th. century g u it a r s by makers such as Pages, Panormo, Fabricatore, Lacote e t c. wi l l a l so be on view. A number of rnaker*, and res to re r shave attended these seminars, held since 1979, and i t i s hor*»d th i s year that one of the davs can be arranged as a 'makersworkshop'. The course fee of £12. includes a • ploughmans' lunchwith wine. Full d e t a i l s from the Course Secretary, GuitarStudy Centre, 64 Ashmore Grove, Willing, Kent. Please indicate ifyour i n t e r e s t i s primarily that or maker and r e s to r e r.

  NOTICE OF CHKNGL OF nbprtE^S I awrence Brown

  In May I c losed my shop - t 202ii p o i s o n r(oad and moved to a larger space a t 3952 d r o t n e r t o n .-toad. Tho phonenumber' has been changed t o (513) 271-6336. P lease con t i nue tou*=* ray home address for * U m a i l : 3605 Shaw * venue, C i n ci n r B t i Ohio 45206*. The events which p r e c i p i t a t e dkhis 'move a r e a

• 11

  My shop was located on a street with other craft-orientedbusinesses, antique shops, and art galleries. Inevitably, the areabecame a popular shopping district, and began to be exploited bygreedy landlords and entreprenurial developers. In April, my leaseexpired and I found that the landlord wanted an astronomical sumfor rental. Unable to re-negotiate the lease, I vacated thepremises.

  This happened at a fortunate time for me. I had recently oeenapproached by another professional builder of early instruments,Ben Bechtel, who had found a large workshop for rent and wanted toshare the space with me. The structure was formerly used by aprinter, and is completely wired for machinery and power tools.With all maple floors and windows that look out over trees andgardens (instead of decaying buildings) it offers an idealatmosphere for instrument construction.

  I immediately moved my entire shop into the new space, and havespent most of May setting up. Although this means that I have losta month or more of working time, I will soon make it up. The largerspace has allowed me to set up much more efficiently. Additionalworkbenches and shelving space, a large varnishing room and spraybooth, and a more organized shop will allow me to produceinstruments much more quickly. This will hopefully shorten thewaiting list, meaning some of my customers will receive instrumentssooner than they had expected. Unfortunately, clients whoseinstruments were due in May, June, and July will find a one-monthdelay. I can only offer apologies for this delay.

  I have often thought that the ideal situation for a luthierwould be a loose consortium of instrument makers under one roof,sharing business expenses as well as the knowledge and experienceof instrument-making. My association with Mr. Bechtel is a step inthat direction. In addition to teaching music history at theUniverstiy of Cincinnati for twelve years, Mr. Bechtel directed thecollegium musicum and is a member of the professional touring andrecording group Early Music Consort. He has been buildinginstruments professionally on a part-time basis for six years. Hehas given up his University career to pursue instrument-making on afull-time basis. Mr. Bechtel is a member of FoMKHI.

  Any FoHRHI member who happens to be in Cincinnati is cordiallyinvited to visit the new workshop.

  /JM adds: Ben Bechtel is not a member of FoMRHI; he was a memberfor three years, but we've lieard nothing from him since the end of1979. This does arise occasionally (another ex-member said that hewas a member in order to get access to the Trinity College harp)and is one reason that we have a List of Members. Those who are notin it nor a Supplement are not members, unless they joined

  - very recently. Membership continues only as long as a memberkeeps up his subscription//

  A late P. S. from J. M.: I near ly forgot to say that the BateCollection has r e - s t a r t e d i ts Ear ly Music Weekends. Wehad one las t t e r m on Wind Octe ts , and the next one will be onFlutes , on November i3th and 14th. with Stephen P r e s t o nBasic format is some talk on Saturday morning, audience par t icipat ion (i. e. playing) on Saturday afternoon, all in the Bate;then on Sunday an open r e h e a r s a l in the afternoon andconcer t in tho evening, in the Holywell Music Room. I'd like to tie th is one to a measu r ing and

• 12

  making session with Robert Bigio, either the same Sundaymorning, or the following weekend. If you're interested in any orall of this, and in future weekends on other instruments, let meknow, and I'll put you on the Bate mailing list. There ' s also amid-week quickie on Guitar with Harvey Hope on Wednesday November10th - afternoon talk and demonstration of early guitars in theMusic Faculty, and concert that evening in Holywell.

  MUSEE GROBET. LABADIE Instruments de musique

  1 Harpe diatonique en bois de cerisier sculpte, Ie fond sonoreest decore de motifs

  de fleurs peintes polychromes.

  Anonyme, XVIHeme siecle

  2 - Archet de viole en bois et ivoire.

  XVIIIemesiecle.

  3 Pochette de viole d'amour en bois d'erable. La pochette est Ienom d'un petit violon

  utilise par les maftres a danser pendant leurs lecons La violed'amour proche de la

  viole possedent des cordes en laiton,

  Allemagne, XVIIleme siecle.

  4 Lyritza ou pochette bateau en bois d'erable,

  France, XVIIIeme siecle.

  5 Plaque en bronze, portrait de profit de Nicolo Paganini parDavid d'Angers, 1834.

  6 Centre d'une teorbe en bois tendre decoupe • La teorbe est uninstrument a cordes

  pincees, inver.-te par un musicien italien. Bardella, au XVlemeSteele. II possede deux

  tetes, une pour les cordes qui se doigtent sur Ie manche, lautrepour les grosses cordes

  qui servent de basse.

  7 Etui de guimbarde en buis sculpte,

  XVIIIeme siecle.

  8 Baton de chef d'orchestre en bois d'ebene et ivoire decored'une lyre en cuivre.

  XVIIIemesiecle

  9 Flageolet en bois d'ebene et ivoire,

  XVI I leme siecle.

  10 Flageolet en buis et come,

  XVIIIeme siecle

  11- Flageolet en buis clair, estampilie Michel,

  XIIleme siecle.

  12- Flageolet en buis clair et ebene. estampilie. Long, LaCiotat,

  debut XlXeme siecle.

• 13

  13 Flageolet en burs clair, estampilie A. Guerin, Marseille,

  XlXeme siecle.

  14 Come de chasse en ivoire,

  Afrique de I'Ouest

  15 Double flute en buis clair, estampillee Grasset

  XlXeme siecle vers 1820.

  16 - Hautbois en burs clair et ivoire

  XVIIIemesiecle

  17 Flute a sept trous, en loupe, ebene, et bague en corne

  debut XlXeme siecle

  18 Epinette des Vosges en buis clair. estampillee A. Lambert

  Feuillee Dorothee Valdajol, Vosges, vers 1820 1830

  19 Pardessus de viole en cypres, estampilie Bartelemy fecit aMarseille, 1704

  20 Petite vtole d'amour en bois de cypres et buis,

  f in XVIIIemesiecle.

  21 Archet de violon

  22 Alto en bois d'erable,

  XVIIIemesiecle.

  23 Guitare sarazme en bois avec des inscrustations d'os.

  24 Mandoline napolitame en bois de sapin avec des incrustationsde nacre et d'lvoire,

  estampillee, Joseph di Mana di Napoli a di 1771.

  25 Mandore en bois de sapm avec une plaque d'ecaille,

  Italie debut XVIIIemesiecle

  26 Petite Gusla turque avec des incrustations de nacre,

  debut XlXeme siecle.

  27 Rebab en bois et peau avec des incrustations de nacre, Afnquedu Nord,

  XlXeme siecle

  28 Petite guitare en bois et peau,

  Afnque du Nord XlXeme siecle.

  29 Cor anglais ou hautbois de chasse en bois, cuir etivoire.

  30 Guitare a cinq cordes doubles en bois d'erable, decoreed'incrustations de nacre

  et d'ebene,

  debut XVIIIeme siecle

  140 bd Longchamp Marseille 13001 Tel 62 21 82

• N. B.

  Les adherents a la Societe des Amis du Muaee Instrumentalbeneficient de 20 F de reduction par unite.

  Ce document ne constitue en aucune maniere un bon de commande.Celui-ci vous eat adreaae par ailleura et comport* le montant desfrais d'envoi qui vient en sua.

  14

  81673 Fl.A-DC 23.',2.81

  SOCIETE D£S AMIS DU MUSEE INSTRUMENTAL DU CONSERVATOIRE NATIONALSUPERIEUR DE MUSIQUE

  Tel- 1*4, rue de Madrid - 75008 Paris 292 15 20 CCP j LaSource

  33 693 69 *

  DIFFUSION DE DESSINS TECHNIQUES D' INSTRUMENTS DU MUSEEINSTRUMENTAL

  AJQ Liate au 15 decembre 1981

  1 LUTH a onze choeure, Anonyme, XVIIe siecle, E.5*+0 C.156,diapason 680 mm, Pierre Abondance, 1976, 19&> : Fra.100,00

  2 GUITARE a cinq choeura, Anonyme, Italie (?), XVIIe aiecle,E.30 C.263, diapason 725 ram, Pierre Abondance, 1975, 1980 : "100,00

  3 MANDORE a dix cordee, Anonyme, Italie (?), XVIIIe aiecle,diapason 355 mm, Pierre Abondance, 1976 : " 100,00

  *+ VIOLE DE GAMBE (basse), six cordee, Henry Jaye, Londrea,162*+ E.23 C171, diapason 670 mm, Pierre Jaquier, 1976 : "150,00

  5 VIOLE DE GAMBE (pardessua), aix cordea, Nicolaa Bertrand,Paris 171*+, £.1005 C.138, diapason 180 mm, Pierre Jaquier, 1976 :*• 100,00

  6 VIOLON Francoia Lupot, Orleana, 1772, Et899 C.19, diapason 193mm, Pierre Jaquier, 1979 : " 100,00

  7 ARCHETS (2 de violon, 1 de basse), Anonymea, France et LouiaTourte, Paris, milieu XVIIIe siecle, E.0165, E.0199, E.-+06 C.65Pierre Jaquier, 1979 : " 100,00

  8 PIANOFORTE (carre), Anton Walter, Vienna, fin XVIIIe siecle,£. 976.3.1, *» octaves + 1 note (mi-fa), Michel Robin, 1978 : "150,00

  9 PIANOFORTE (carre), Anonyme, Allemagne, ca. 1800, E.951*C.336, k octaves + 3 notea (mi-sol), Michel Robin, 1978 : ••150,00

  10 EPINETTE DES VOSGES CO, France, XVIIIe et XIXe eieclee, BUCHEDES FLANDRES, Flandree, XVIIIe aiecle, CITHARE, Allemagne, XVIIeaiecle, Pierre Abondance, Pierre Jaquier, Michel Robin, 1978 : "150,00

  11 VIELLE A ROUE, Louvet le Jeune, Paris, 1733 E.1M2 C.10*+9,Pierre Jaquier 1980 : " 150,00

  12 CLAVECIN a un clavier G1 c5, Carolus Grimaldi, Measine 1703Michel Robin 1981 : • notice :.. " 180,00

  13 CLAVECIN a deux claviers F1 f3 Jean-Claude Goujon, Paria,vera 17**9 - Joachim Swanen 178** Michel Robin, Pierre Abondance1981 : 2 deaains techniquee • notice " 250,00

  1*4 EPINETTE EN AILE D'OISEAU F1 sans F1 f3 Jean-Claude Goujon1753 - Abbe Tapray 1789 Pierre Abondance 1981 : • notice :.. "180,00

• 15

  PLANS AVAILABLE FROM MUSIKMUSEET, STOCKHOLM

  Clavichord, fretted, anon. Cat.no.NM 26k 785a, drawn by FelixWolff & Hans Erik Svensson

  Clavichord, fretted, Anders Wahlstrom, 1732, drawn by FelixWolff Clavichord, fret-free, anon, Cat.no.1812, Diskant viola dagamba, Johann Harp, Copenhagen, 1730, — Hummel, Cat. no. NM 77200 —Folk hurdy-gurdy from Halsingland, — Silverbas nyckelharpa, 18th c,Cat.no.69/70B (2 plans) —

  f Cat.no. 206 178a (2 plans) — Oboe,marked R.Haka, Cat.no. MM155, drawn by Cary Karp Copies of these plans can, for the moment,be seen at the Bate Collection but they may be sent up to NRI indue course; ring up before coming to check that they're stillhere.

  Copies can be ordered from the Musik Museet, who will tell youthe cost when you order them.

  FoMRHI Book News Jeremy Montagu

  There's a new edition just appeared (1982) of John Henry van derMeer's Wegweiser durch die Sammlung historischer Musikinstrumenteof the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Niirnberg. Like the earliereditions it goes round the collection, case by case, but it's quitea bit longer and has better photographs, some of them in colour. Idon't know the price I'm afraid.

  Just arrived is Barra Boydell's The Crumhom and otherRenaissance Wlndcap Instruments, published by Frits Knuf at Hfl(Dutch guilders) 140 for paperback and 165 for cloth. No time toread it properly now, so review next time, but at a quick glance itseems comprehen-sive (description of all known survivinginstruments, citations of all known literary references,descriptions of all known iconogra-phic sources), clearly printedand well produced.

  You may have seen something in the papers a few months backabout the discovery of musical mammoth bones in a Palaeolithicsettlement site in Russia. Anatoly Zajaruzny has sent me a bookabout these, S.N.Bibikov, The Oldest Musical Complex made ofMammoth Bones, published in Kiev last year. Since it is in Russian,I've not yet been able to puzzle any of it out, and we've not yetgot the gramo-phone hooked up at home, so I've not been able toplay the record in the back. If anyone wants a look at the book,it's here, and I will report further in due course. Meanwhile, mythanks to Anatoly for sending it; the initial press reports soundedso bogus that it will be interesting to find out more about it.

  http://Cat.nohttp://Cat.nohttp://Cat.nohttp://Cat.no

• 16

  Contents of -Jouwbrief 241 Larch 1982. Paul Gretton

  1.2: Errata for Bouwbrief 23. (hissing illustrations.) . 1:Review of Die Drehleier. iiandhabung undSpieltechnik.Zusammen-"estellt von Idtriiedejrn des FrankfurterDrehleierencembles 'Die .ummel' Frankfurt, 1981. Rene I.eeuws.Recommended as a useful intro. •3: Review by Hugo van Veen ofH.A.Kellner, Wie stimme ich selbst

  "ein Cembalo? Vcrla.r Das Musikinstrument. Hot reccommended. ~2.4 : i,ention of i .usikinstrumenten zum Selberbauen by Wilhelmrlev;ein, Havensbur~er Freizeit-Iaschenbtlcher "-and 2. The authorhas

  examined and compared European and American kits and courses.Available from the author by trancfering DMO,40 to Munichgiro-centre, account 180281-607, for W.Erlewein, Larchenstr.,D-8011 Zorneding. 2.5: Lou's rsk on takt is reprinting thetechnical vocabulary Dutch/ i-inr;] ish/French/Gerraan. Hfl 7.50.Contributions requested in the ' orm of lists relating tosubscribers' own fields. ; ,i : Substantial article on the tuningof violin bellies by Harry Zwetsloot. 3.1: Detailed instructionsfor building a carillon practice-keyboard are available for ILfl 15from Laura Heilink-Hoedemaker, Terbregse echter Kottekade 173»Rotterdam.

  *.2: Construction drawing for a small spinet is available forHfl 35 from rheo de Haas of Haarlem. (Ho address given.) ?•?:Drawing of bentside spinet by Thomas Hitchco*ck, London ca.1710available from the Smithsonian Institution. < .1: Catalogues ofKits for organs, strings, winds are available from GrgelbaumeisterHofbauer, Abteilung Tonstube, Am Mehrdrusch 20, ! -3551Lahntal-C-ossfelden, West Germany. 5.2: Z2 buys you a catalogue ofharpsichord parts from Heckscher and Co.! 75 Bayham Street, LondonHW1 OAA. c.4* Catalogue of tools and materials for guitar buildersand repairers from Robbert de Vos, Akkerv/inde 1, HL-1689 HS Zwaag,Hetherl.

  i• /ood-buyin- trip to Mittenwald. To order,contact Verenigingvoor . uismuziek°and send lifl 1.50 for "Katalogus Fuchs". 8.2:Illustrated article on making extra-long drills from silver-steelrods. Looks useful. ;:.3: Making a baroque trumpet, part 2, byG.J.yan der Heide.

  : further comments on articles 8.3 and 9.4 in Bouwbrief 22,Sept, 81 9.x- (and loose centrefold of this Bouwbr.) Comparativetable of various systems of measuring piano string gauges. To ?•Help requested with the fretting of dulcimers, mandolins etc.Herman lillemsen, Mercuriusstraat 5, HL- 569* TA Breugel, can:unt)lv computer-produced fretting diagrams for any string-length.M ^ K o r n e l i u s Gotz recommends highly J b % l u t j T b u ^d i n | n J ° ^ ^

  S

  •ivln n ^rlan-en by Robert Lundberg and Dieter Kirsch. For info..rite to ^Kirsch, Eibelstadter Weg 14, D-8700Wtlrzburg-Rottenbauer. If y0u want any of this stuff, write to theHon.Sec. (Requests sent to me are immediately fed to the goat.PGJ

• 17

  FoMRHI Comm.417

  COfif'UTING LUTE Rip. SHAPES hy R.J. Peckham

  When making lutes by any construction technique it is use-ful toknow in advance what shapes the ribs should be, both as an aid toconstruction and to save material. For lutes of "semicircular" endview all the ribs have the same shape and it is straightforward towork out what the shape should be. However for "flattened back" or"humped back" lutes the ribs have different shapes and it would bea wore tedious job to work them all out by hand. A computer programhas therefore been written to calculate and draw accurate lute ribshapes for flattened and hump-backed lutes *Jiven only the bellypro-file and the end view.

  The belly profile is specified by measuring the half-width ofthe sound table at lc« intervals alon*j the lendth of the lutestarting from the clasp end as shown in fi*f.l. In order to set abetter reproduction of the profile n^ar the clasp additi-onalmeasurements are needed at 2mm intervals for the first 1cm, Thewidth measurements ar

• 18

  l)For -3ch ^^de of each rib ca profila which is derived from thm th of th

  ?>F 3ppar

  by sc 3)A

  di sta centr centr

  4>A h, an

  5)U shape

  e radial direction b y r. / r e rib ed Je. or each rib calculateand s ent centre line which is de aling by the ratio r, /r, -

• 19

  V i y f - e 1 . Oe(L fiolUe Sjgea îfahtfvv:

  Sf«e.ciV*v (O, u>2 IA)^ *.fc-t

  i 1 cm i-ntewals.

  - ^ V 2*nr»»\ intew«.ls Xot tint lcrvv

• 20

  ^Uuiw-S. kte -UiA Clot:

  VioAxrejf. £n^ vt€u)

• H 8 NOS INCkEfiSE FROH MIDDLE TO EDGE -

  21

  . •

  I i

  I i

  /i n i I.

  i. i \ , \

  > L

• 22

  1982 List of FoMRHI Members - 1st Supplement, as at 8th July1982

  * in left-hand margin denotes a change of address etc from theMain List.

  Bob Barclay, 1030 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0M8;tel: (613) 998-3721 (Brass, M; all instrs, Cons).

  * Werkgroep BouwersKontakt, Utrechtsestraat 77, Postbus 350,NL-3401 CT Ijsselstein, Netherlands; tel:03408-85678,

  Brian Butler, 40 The Esplanade, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia(all instrs, M,R; Australian woods).

  Stefan Czapski, 54 Ludovick Walk, London SW15 5LE, UK; tel:01-876 3869 (lute, guitar; M,R,P).

  John B.Dick, 22 Springfield Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis PA87,UK; tel: 0851-2500 x 59 (wind, R,C,P; fretted str, P).

  Bruce W.Du Ve, An Spideal, Co.na Gaillimhe, fiire; tel:0009-83235 (bagpps Uill, northumbr etc, flutes; M,R).

  * Richard Earle, 41 Dewsbury Road, London NW10 1EL, UK. ColinJ.Everett, 47 Fentiman Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 0T5;

  tel:(613) 235-5710 (lute, racket, gamba; M,P). * Basil Foraud,until end of August: c/o Camoys Farm House, Barcombe,

  Lewes, Sussex, UK. Then to: Peters Finger, Templeton, Narberth,Dyfed, UK.

  * Donald S.Gill; tel: Reading 873986. Hans Olav Corset, NedreAsvei 44. N-1300 Sandvika, Norway; tel:(02)

  540441 (flutes, recrdrs; M,P). * Goran Grahn & AndreasKilstrom, Stiftelsen Musikkulturens framjande,

  Riddargatan 35-37, S-11457 Stockholm, Sweden;tel:08/617171.C.H.& K.L.Greaves, 10 Market Street, Rugeley, Staffs WS15 2JJ,UK; tel:

  08894-76161 (hpschd; M). * Paul Gretton, Reyershaag 13, NL-6228HA Maastricht, Netherlands. * Bill Groeneveld, Lot 12, StationStreet, Drysdale, Victoria 3222,

  Australia. Friedemann Hellwig, Blumroderstr. 17, D-8500 Nurnberg30, West Germany;

  tel: 0911-203971. * Jeff Hildreth, 910 Beauford Place, PacificGrove, CA 93950, USA. Naomi Hirschfeld, Borneostraat 9, NL-2585 TRDen Haag, Netherlands;

  tel: 070-503909 (gamba; P). Andreas Kilstrom - see Gb'ranGrahn.

  * Robert Longstaff, add: 0X13 5EF; tel: 0865-820206. JorgeMindreau, Ruspoel 1*, B-9242 Munte, Belgium. Stephen Murphy, rue duBarry, Mollans sur Ouveze, 26170 Buis les Baron-

  nies, France; tel:287086 (lute, guitar, gamba; M). Mark Norris,Cabbage Hall, Tweed Green. Peebles, Scotland EH45 8AP, UK-

  tel: 0721-20371 (harp, hpschd; M,R). Patrick O'Brien, 50 PlazaStreet East, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA; tel:

  (212) 783-6791 (lute, harp, theorb, cittn, pandora). AllanK.Perry, 4 Magdalene Close, Pound Hill, Crawley, W.Sussex RH10

  3TH; tel: Crawley 88396I (violin, bows; R). Robert Redfield,21551 Burbank Bl.#107, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, USA.

  * Djilda Segerman, NRI, 6 Needham Avenue, Chorlton, ManchesterM21 2AA; tel: 061-881 8134.

  * Ephraim Segerman, NRI, 6 Needham Avenue, Chorlton, ManchesterM21 2AA UK; tel: 061-881 8134. '

  Hugh Spencer, 267 Cordeaux Road, Mt.Kembla, NSW 2500, Australia(wind, esp.bagpp, organ, barrel-orgn; M,R).

  Max Thoursie, Ribbings Vag 33, S-19152 Sollentuna, Sweden(flute, recrdr; M,P).

  F Marco Tiella, Direttore dei Corsi di Liuteria, via Pastrengo11. I-2015Q Milano, Italy (ital.hpschds, pos.organ; M,R).

  Gerrit van der Veer, Zeilenmakers Pad 1, Zaanse Schans, NL-1509BZ Zaandam, Netherlands; tel:075-171901 (ww, str, keybd;R,C,P).

  * Andre Verhoog, p/a Gasthuisstr. 13, NL-4161 CA Heukelem L-H,Netherlands.

  1L

• 23

  Katharina Walch, Rosslauer Strasse 8, DDR-7022 Leipzig, EastGermany; tel: Leipzig 584898 (hpschd, bar flute; M,P).

  Jiirgen Weiss, Hornsche Str.83, D-4930 Detmold, West Germany. *Roland Wilson, Gr.Annenstr. 76, D-2800 Bremen, West Germany;tel:0421/

  591743. Richard Woods, 1143 W.North Shore Ave, Chicago, IL60626, USA (irish

  & welsh harp, crwth, lute; M,P).

  X X S X S X X X X X X X X X J

  General Facilities

  Conservation: Bob Barclay, Friedemann Hellwig

  Museums: Nurnberg: Germanisches National (Friedemann Hellwig)Stockholm: Stiftelsen Musikkulturens (Gtfran Grahn)

  Woods: Brian Butler

  X X X X X X X X X X X X X X J

  Organological Index

  All Instruments: Bob Barclay, Brian Butler, FriedemannHellwig

  String Instruments General: Gerrit van der Veer

  Keyboards general: Gerrit van der Veer

  Pianoforte: Marc Champollion

  Harpsichord etc: Marc Champollion Andreas Kilstrom KatharinaWalch Goran Grahn Mark Norris Greaves Bros Marco Tiella

  Clavichord: Marc Champollion

  Fretted Strings: John Dick

  Lute: Marc Champollion Colin Everett Stephen Murphy StefanCzapski Patrick O'Brien Richard Woods

  Guitar: Stefan Czapski Stephen Murphy

  Cittern etc: Patrick O'Brien, cp

  Bows: Allan Perry Crwth: Richard Woods

  Violin: Allan Perry

  Viola da Gamba: Colin Everett Naomi Hirschfeld StephenMurphy

  Harp,: Marc Champollion, Mark Norris, Patrick O'Brien, RichardWoods

  Wind Instruments General: John Dick, Hugh Spencer

  Woodwind general: Gerrit van der Veer

  Transverse Flute: Marc Champollion Hans Olav Gorset KatharinaWalch

  Bruce Du Ve Max Thoursie

  Recorder: Hans Olav Gorset Max Thoursie

  Organ: Hugh Spencer Marco Tiella

  Racket: Colin Everett Bagpipes: Bruce Du V£, Hugh Spencer

  **• Marc Champollion, Haferweg 6, D-5902 Netphen 2, West Germany(harp, spnt,clavchd,vrgnl,M;pft,fl,C; lute,P; temperaments,res),

  (apologies to him for missing his card earlier;

• 24

  G e o g r a p h i c a l I ndex

  A u s t r a l i a : B r i a n B u t l e r , NSW Hugh S p e n c er , NSW

  Belgium* J o r g e M i n d r e a u

  Canada : Bob B a r c l a y , Ont C o l i n E v e r e t t ,Ont

  E i r e : B ruce Du Ve F r a n c e : S t e p h e n Murphy

  E a s t Germany: K a t h a r i n a Walch

  West Germany: Marc C h a m p o l l i o n , F r i e d e m a n n He l l w i g , J i i r gen Weiss

  I t a l y : Marco T i e l l a

  N e t h e r l a n d s : Naomi H i r s c h f e l d G e r r i tvan d e r Veer

  Norway: Hans Olav G o r s e t

  Sweden: Goran Grahn A n d r e a s K i l s t r o m Max T h o u rs i e

  UK. London: S t e f a n C z a p s k i , SW15 R i c h a r d E a rl e , NW10

  G r e a v e s B r o s , S t a f f s A l l a n P e r r y ,W.Sussex

  S c o t l a n d : John D i c k , Mark N o r r i s

  USA: R o b e r t R e d f i e l d , CA R i c h a r d Woods, IL Pa t r i c k O ' B r i e n , NY

  Cbmmunication n« 418 L.A. Estevee P e r e i r a

  BfiAGA CATHEDRAL - GOSPKL ORGAN

  Some days ago, I got in my hands a copy of the "A New History ofthe Organ", by Dr. Pe t e r Williams, (Paber Books, London). I t is not my i n t e n t i o n to review t h i s book which I h a v e 't enough time to read. As a mat ter of c u r i o s i t y , Isearched for re fe rences to Por-tuguese organs , and found theinstrument of the Braga Cathedral (which I j u s t f in ished the re s t o r a t i o n ) mentioned among Spanish organs . A smallreference i s made to t h i s magnificent instrument and the s p ec i f i c a t i o n t h a t i s published i s plagued with e r r or s and misinformation. I found t ha t t h i s i s a r e p e t i ti o n of those published in h i s book "The European Organ",(London 1966). I t was a p i t y t h a t Dr. Williams who knows mep e r s a n a l l y , did not have the idea to ask my help (whichwould he given with p leasure) in order to put in p r i n t a co rrec t information for h i s r e a d e r s . I want, only, to givethe s p e c i f i c a t i o n to help readers to c o r r e c t whatwas put in p r i n t .

  Braga Cathedral - Gospel organ

  Two manuals, e igh t pedal pull-downs connected to the lower s ho r t --oc tave of the upper manual. Upper manual p lays the greatorgan. Lower manual p lays the echo—organ and/or the " r u c k s -p o s i t i v e " . Both manuals with 45 keys , lower sho r t -oc tave , d6l to d65. Both manuals with divided r e g i s t e r s tbass from dfil to d63, t r e b l e from d6*3 t o d65. Organ with three departments - g rea t -o rgan , echo—organ ( p a r t i a l l yenclosed) and ' , rucks-posi t ive , . , The front pipes belPngtothe g r e a t , i nc lud ing the h o r i z o n t a l r e e d s .Obvious except ion to the f ront p ipes of the p o s i t i v e.

• 25

  Great-organ

  bass r e g i s t e r s (21 notes)

  Simbala (Zimbel IV) Resimbala (Zimbel III) 15« e 19* (I5th ,19thII) Composta 22» (22nd IV) Nazardos (Nazard IV) Dozena (Twelfth)Plautado 26 (Op. diap. l6») 8» Real (Octave 4») Trompeta Real(Trumpet,inside 8') Plautado 13 (Op. diap.8') Baixaozinho (Basson,front 4')

  treble registers (24 notes)

  Simbala (Zimbel IV) Resimbala (Zimbel III) 15* e 19» (15th,19thIV) Composta 22» (22nd V) 8* Real (Octave 4') Corneta Real (CornetVIIl) Nazardos (Nazard V) Plautado 26 (Op. diap.l6») Plautado 13(Op. diap.8') Trompeta Real (Trumpet,inside 8») Clarim (Clairon,front 8')

  Clarim de batalha (Clairon,front 8') Trompeta Magna(Trumpet,front 16') Dulgaina (Dulzian, front 8') Aboas (Oboe, front8») Contras (Op. diap.wood,8* pipes for

  reinforoement of the lower short-octave)

  8 pull-downs, drum in d6, drum in sol, "Oarrancas" left and"Carran cas right ("carrancas" are human figures, one playingtrumpet (left) and the other blessing the faithfull with movingarm, sounding a reed in d6> There are no independent pipesconnected to the pedals.

  Echo—organ

  bass reg i s t ers (21 notes) treble r e g i s t e r s (24notes)

  Carrancas (see above) Clarim ecos (Clairon 8' e n d . ) Trompetabastarda (Trumpet 8') Cheremia (reed 8') Tenor (Tenor,_reed 4')Corneta Real ecos (Cornet VI encl) Plautado v io lao (Stp.diap.wood 8') Flautado 13 ecos (Op.diap.S'enoi) Plautado 6 ecos(Stp. diap.metal 4') Flauta doce (Chimney f lute 8»encl) Composta15§ (15th I) Claron (Comet V) Claron (Cornet TV)

  Sl id ing stirrup to operate the door of the swell box. Ironlever to put on wind the two night ingales .

  Posit ive-organ

  bass reg i s t ers (21 notes)

  Flautado 6 (Op. diap. 4'front) Octava (Octave 2») Composta 22»(22nd III) Simbala (Zimbel III )

  treble reg i s ters (24 notes)

  Flautado 13 (Op. diap.81 front) Pifano (Gerashora 4') Composta22» (22nd IV) Simbala (Zimbel III)

  This spec i f icat ion includes a to ta l of about 2.400speaking p i -pes. About 50 dummies are also in the front of thecase, to com-plete the decoration. The organ, i t s e l f , was buil t by Prei Simon Pontanes, a franoiscan monk, from the Compostelamonastery. The archi tect and "entalhador" of the two magnificentcases (see B ib l io -theca Organologyca", vol . 50) was Marcelianode Araujo, a par ish i -oner of the Cathedral and the painting andguilding was made by Manuel Purtado,of Oporto. The Rev. CanonRafael Alvares da Costa, of the Cathedral's flhapter, supervisedthe whole job.

  Famraicao, April 1982

• 26 FoMRHI Comm.419

  BLOWN RESONANCE OF BAKOU.UE PLUTi-ThAVEKbO IV F- Raudonikas. THiTONE AND THE BLOWING PnOCEbb Goinr from players lips to edwe ofmouth hole, the air stream performs complex movement. Alternativelydirecting now outside, now inside the embouchure hole, jet comesinto interaction with air column closed in the flute and inducesthe longitudinal oscillations in it. Oscillation frequency of aircolumn is determined by its resonance properties, i.e. it couldn'tbe any. Similarly the jet by far not in any of its states couldinteract with air column in order to produce the sound. JohnColtman /l/ has experimentally shown that the transit time, or thetime of impulse traveling through the jet has decisive importancefor the sound production. The fact is that the jet enters the fluteat a riven phase of air column oscillation, which somewhat lapsbehind the phase of air column oscillation at the moment that thejet has just started from the lips. The traveling time of impulsein the Jet substantionally depends upon air-jet velocity, rhile theamount of wave cycles of disturbance in jet, before it could cometo the edge, depends upon "lip-to-edire" distance value. In otherwords, what will be phase with which disturbance in jet comes tothe air column depends on the velocity outflow of the jet and thevalue of "lip-to-edpe" distance. If the transit time coordinatewith the period of resonator oscillation then a sound productiontakes place. When these values are totally incoordinatin* the jetcan not act *eneratively and represents by itself yhe mechanism oflosses. When the coordination of transit time with resonatoroscillation period is optimal, the sound with maximal (for givenconditions) amplitude is generated and its frequency is equal tocharacteristic frequency of resonator. If we begin to decrease thejet velocity then frequency of sound will decrease and its loudnessbecomes lower until it proves to vanish. If the jet velocity isincreased from the optimal one, then tre sound frequency continues,to some extend, to increase, while loudness will not prow. When thestream velocity increases further, the hissin* in sound will arisein which the sound is then likely to be dissolved. Then the momentcomes when the sound production on riven vibration mode brake off.In simplified form, this is the implication of widebandness offlute tones. On one side it is caused by properties of jet whoseparameters could be changed very arbitrarilv, on other -by resonantproperties of the instrument once and for all determined by the wayit is made, buch combination of circ*mstances concludes in itselT*;he promising possibility. We can do anvthinp we like with thejet, while the instrument has no ability of doinp anythinr.Conseouentlr, chanrinp the stream parameter we would have apossibility to reveal the instrument comoetence concerning itssubstantial playing features. In this article the changes offlute-traverso tone frequencies due to velocity change of airstream coming from player lips should be considered. However, onone hand the stream velocity depends substantially on blowingpressure, and on the other-pressure is more easily measured thanvelocity. Tnerefor in the article the blowing pressure values willbe used. The frequency

  C omm. edited by Ole Vang

• 27

  measurements connected with one or other pressure values will becalled p/P-measurements (in diagrams, accordingly p/P-curves).

  The player on the flute-traverso controls simultaneously severalparameters responsible for the transit time, being advantageousfrom the point of view of expression possibilities of theinstrument this fact complicates extremely the accomplishment ofp/F-measurements on it. At the sam? time the problem of the presentarticle is not more than a illustration of resonance band structureof flute tones. In this connection it is quite possible to replacethe object, complicated for investigation, by an analogous onereouiring less complex methods. The recorder is such an object. Thedimensions and form of the bore as well as the character of someacoustical processes in treble recorders are quite similar to theones of flute-traverso. Therefore the substitution supplies a goodanalogy.

  The dimensions of labium and windway and their mutual placementin recorders are finally determined by making. Therefore allparameters responsible for transit time are fixed in it. Theexclusion is air-jet velocity which is sole factor controlled byplayer, striving to get sound with certain freouencv. (It is awidely spread opinion, that the player can influence the tonefrequency by adjustment of mouth cavity resonance. Coltman /2/ hasshown that in transverse-flute,influences of this kind arepractically eliminated by jet presence, bimilar results have beenobtained (although not explained; on recorder by N.Bak /3/.)i>uch "insienificant" role of player permits, without damage forour problems, to replace him by a chamber hermetically connectedwith recorder mouthpiece. The chamber has adjustable supply ofcompressed air. Cross section of the recorder windway isinvariable, so changing the air inflow it is possible to change thepressure in the chamber, and jet velocity depending upon it. Thepressure value is evaluated with water manometer connected to thechamber. Fingerings are performed with help of adhesive tape, whichis irlued in three layers to prevent the induction of membraneousvibrations of tape. For p/p-data receipt two treble recorders keptin Lenin*radian museum have been used. First of them (cat. no. 4o2)is made of ebony with rings and ferules of ivory. There is nomaster stamp but on the places where it usually is situated thereare incrusted with gold, by picket technic, arms and monogram (notidentified). Instrument design and decor character permit tosuppose that it was made by Bressan. The foot-piece is not original(enjoyinr an opportunity to thank Mr. Friedrich von Huene forhandin**-in the materials on Bressan recorder from Edgar Huntcollection). The

  „ second recorder (cat. no. 4o3) has the stamp of M. Parent onall its three parts. It is made of erenadil with ivory. Bothinstruments have damages which do not put obstacles however, instudying problems interesting for ne. Frequency measurements wereconducted with use of fingerings recommended by Hotteterre /if. InPig. 1 p/F-curve of f? tone (treble no. 4o2) one of upper tones oflower register, is represented. At first the inflow of air into thechamber is so small that the air goes out through the windwaywithout any acoustical consequences. When the pressure in thechamber reaches 6 mm of water, suddenly a clear, beautiful,although still sound appears. It remain* till the pressure will notexceed 10 mm of water. Then the recorder falls silent again.

• 28

  The appearance of such a "ghost" sound serves, in my belief, assign of rood adjustment of the mouthpiece. All succesful recordersmade by me have*been characterised by appearance of such"ghosts".

  When the jet velocity is small, it can be indefinitely much suchsituations when for oiven "lip-to-edg"-*" distance will be as manywave cycles of disturbance find room in the jet. as is necessaryfor in-time arriving to resonator. The problem only is whetherthere is enouph power in order "to stir" the air column. In theexample considered by Coltman f\, fig. 5/ similar situationsrepeats twice before the musically usable process will arise."aturailv witt. such weak, excitation the sound amplitude is small,tiowever in full concordance with Coltman's prediction "ghost"freiuenc.y corresponds well to standard one, on which theinstrument should sound i" normal playing. This suggest an idea on"Vhost" utilisation for instrument tuning control.

  Tne recorder is silent till the moment when pressure in thechamber- exceeds 12 mm of water. Then the sound appears more stilland lower than "ghost". It is similar to gnat squeak. With thepressure increasing the freauency raises rapidly and loudnessgrows. Above ?o mm of water it is a well heard sound, while inintervnl of °/l-5o mm of water it becomes the normal recordersound. This part of p/P-curve corresponds to such pressures wherethe jet velocity stipulated b.v its transit time, is changing fromthe value totally discooidinated with resonator oscillation periodto one where the jet acts in-time. This part of p/F-curve can becalled trar.sj ti cnal zone. In conditions of p/F-measurements thepressure could be changed as smoothlv as- you like and stay as longas you wish on any value. In real playing the pressure increasesover very short periods of time and the processes related to thetransitional zone are usually imperceptible for the listener. Theskilled player is able to re>ulate precisely the velocity bywhich this initial increase of pressure occurs, using differentmethods of articulation. With unsuccessfully formed articulationimpulse (even by synchronous work of fingers) the processesinherent to transitional zone become appreciable, in sucn cases theplayer is accused of "grunt inp". When the player take tones in thelower register he should get over rather long transitional zone bymeans of well calculated "jump" carefully concealing these actionsfrom the listener. Clean attack in upper register is connected withovercoming of more significant obstacles. In fig. 2 p/F-curve isshown. It was obtained from tone c third octave on the treble no.4o2. Here everything also begins from the "ghost" after wnich ashort curve occupies a mucn lower position. This curve correspondsto the first mode of tone by open thumb hole. The soundcorresponding to it has no musical use, but then it contributesgreatly in numDer of obstacles to clean taking of tone. Then a jumpto the second mode occurs, the p/F-curve on this pirt having itsown transitional zone (from 28 to 56 mm of water), how much thethumli hole facilitates tone in upper register Is evidenced bylower p/P-curve in fig. ?. Tnis curve corresponds to the tone takenby the same fingering, but with closed thumb hole. The pressure inthe chamb" has been brought to l3o mm of water but the tone doesnot reach the overjump yet.

• 29

  In this connection the discussion devoted by ŝ uantz fJ% IV $14/ to the problem whether blowing should be strengthened in octaveis highly curious. Vr. Vaucanson doe9 not in the least deservewrathful reproaches of vuantz. In full conformity with facts hestates that under stationary organized conditions of air-jet action(exactly as the situation in "mechanischer Floten-spieler") aconsiderable intensification of blowing is necessary so that anoverjump to octave would occur. This is expressively evidenced bylower curve in fig. 2. -- Tie Quanta-Vaucanson conflict has beendiscussed (not entirely correctly) by David Lasocki /6/. --

  In recorder playing this overjump is facilitated by usage ofregister hole. There are nuite different opportunities for this influte-traverso playing. Here "... player adju&ts both theblowing pressure and lip-to-edge distance in such a manner as tocontrol the arrival phase of the jet, ar.d that this phase is amore important variable in determining which mode will be soundingthan is the magnitude of the blowing pressure"./\, p,^b^/ Thoroughdetailed instructions of wuantz /b, IV, 9 lVguide exactly toteaching of the right adjustment of lip-to-edge distance. In thiscase increase of blowing pressure, naturally, snould not besignificant.

  Wide experiance and refined observation of vuantz give at hisdisposal important facts not always receiving, however, rightexplanation. In this connection one of the arguments used by Aaantz"against" Vaucanson is highlv interesting. In 5 14 he writes: "Theopposite is confirmed even if by that the upper notes could be heldlonger than lower ones with the same breathing expenses that wouldbe impossible if more air should be necessary for hi^h notes".Maintaining an excitation force in crcper phase relation withacoustical current the flutist increases the blowing pressure anddecreases lip-to-edge distance in taking of upper notes. Howeverblowing pressure increase is not indespensable connected withincrease of its expenses which in particular essentially dependsupon how narrowly tightened the players lips are. Increasing ordecreasing air expense under oyher equally conditions the playercontrols sound amplitude, it is shown by experiment that suchcontrol of amplitude could be carried out independently frommanagement of phase conditions of oscil lations /l, Xll/. In otherwords in playing of upper notes the air could be spent more or lessand the fact that *uantz spent it less than for lower notes, permitto make quite accurate conclusion aoout what dynamic in upper notescorrespond to good taste in Wuantz' understanding.

  Between the pressures of 2o and 3o mm of water p/F-curve in fig.1 becomes less steep, then transformed into a sloping straightline. All that the player seeks to use is situated in this part ofp/F-curve, therefore it could be called working zone. Thestraightlinearity of the working zone indicates that there issimple proportionality between pressure and frequency. Thisproportionality can be expressed by the following equation:

  (Pi/p^ * v ? i ( 1 )

  where p and p. - blowing pressures corresponding to some two

  points of the working zone, while F and P

• 30

  I r. there points. Lhe cowvr b is a valu? characterising theinclination Of t̂ Sie workir" zone of p/" -curv«?. i'he principalmeanirg of J smal 1 value is that when 0. owing prestire Changesconsiderable, tne frequency Changes little. It is easy tounderstand tnnt tr,e smaller the ir.cl'- ntt ion at ^ r ^ i n reone '-•"= , the more the plaver has ooportuniti *s to take r. ̂rmor::. o \«. p,e»t-=s with little o r o about blowing 'orce. (nerea reservetirn is necessary, following further o n ) . From theeiuation (!) :.t foil O W E that

  • 'v--\ p , / p , Tr.e V ^ I I P S obtained for some tones oftreble no. 4o'; ir«= cited below.

  g.

  i

  , o,n'->V.

  o,o07 o

  o,0' /' 6

  o,o-,e,> f.

  T n ,o

  c i s 0 o, o 5 hF

  O , O 5 71

  o, o *5? V

  O , 0 ? h -j

  3

  fis.

  o,eU5 ,•37?

  •>

  t s gis

  a ?

  o,o5ol

  o,o?5o

  o,o^79

  ?

  o,o

  0,0?56

  o,o?4?

  o,02 po

  It is soen that tne values for cross-fingerings art larger thanfor simple fi.'i»er*:d tones. On the whole, however, tnese valuesare small enough and close to on

• 31

  well the expressed and rather extensive zone of overexcitation.This zone is still more significant in tones in the second mode. Atthe base of all these facts is the circ*mstance, that for allrecorder tones lip-to-edge distance remains the same.

  Demonstrated anc discussed by Coltman /l,7/ the meaning ofadjustment of lip-to-edge distention has several aspects. Fromphase condition choice for main mode point of view there is anoptimal Value of this distance. It is connected with characteristicresonator freouencv in such a way, that just at this lip-to-edgedistance the most favourable generative conditions are formed.Alteration of this distance starts a mechanism of losses in one oranother degree, spending the power which with more succesfuladjustment would go for sound production. i>uch degrees ofincoordinating are quite possible when the resonance band does notat all include the sections with optimal generative conditions, butentirely consists of transitional or overexcitation zone.

  Failure of certain lip-to-edge distance for main mode does notin the least means it failure for the second mode. Cn the contrary,with correct selection of this distance the second mode could beput in preferential conditions in comparison with the first one.Exactly this circ*mstance lies in the base of octave taking.

  For higher modes this or another lip-to-edge distance hasanalogous meaning. As it was mentioned, an appearance of favourablesituations in phase coordinating repeats several times at differentenergetical levels, having in a certain sense the cyclic character.The period of such cyclic!ty for n-th mode as many time less thanfirst mode period, as many times n-th mode frequency is more thanfirst mode frequency fit. Thus lip-to-edge distance regulation isof great importance for all tone spectrum determination.

  Due to pecularities of its structure, the recorder deprives theplayer of a whole number of opportunities of this kind. Therefore,for example, in upper tones (for which it could be better todecrease lip-to-edpe distance) overexcitation is expressed so much.As for the flute-traverso the player has everything necessary for abeautiful sound, and any flutist playing muddy tone should* imaginehe is spending the blowing power for this mud manufacturing insteadof getting the nice sound with its help.

  flibliography. 1. John W. Coltman, sounding Mechanism of theFlute and Trgan Pipe, The Journal of the Acoustical Society ofAmerica, Vol.44, No. 4, 1968, p. 985-99?. 2. John W. Coltman, Mouthresonance effects in the flute, Journ.Acoust. ~Soc. Amer., Vol. 54,No. ?, 19^5, p. 417-42o. 3. N. 3ak, Pitch, Temperature andBlowing-Pressure in necorderplaying, Acoustica, Vol. 22 (1969/7o),p. 2 9 W 9 9 . 4. Hotteterre-le-homain, Principes de la FluteTraversiere, de la r'luts a Bee, et du haut-riois, 1720, Paris,Traite de la Flute a oec, Planche 1 5. J.J. Quantz, Versuch einerAnweisung die Flbte traversiere zu spielen, 5. Auflage, dreslau,1?89, Das IV. nauptstuclt, )) 12,1^14. 6. David Lasocki, DieTheorien der Akustik und opieltechnik der Flote des J. Vaucanson,Tibia, No. 2, 198o, p. 87~9o. 7. John W. Coltman, hesonance andmounding Frequencies of the Flute, Journ. Acoust. ^oc. Amer., ^ol.4o, No. 1, 1966, p. 99-107.

• 32

• 34

  FoMRi:i Comm. 420

  LUTE ACTION

  Lawrence D. Brown

  Any discussion of action should include precise measurements ofstring heights at the bridge, at the nut, and at the neck/bodyjoint or a given fret. There Is no ''ideal" action on a lute (orany other instrument) and different playing techniques will requiredifferent actions. Articles on lute action are less meaningful ifstring heights are not given since the reader may have no idea whatthe author considers proper action or what playing technioues areused. Some authors speak of a "high" or "low" action, terms thatare misleading since "action" comprises a number of variablesbesides string height. Players often refer to action as "fast" or"slow", or "soft" or "hard". These terms are more descriptive than"high" or "low" since they give an impression of "feel" or overallplayability, which is what a player is mainly concerned with.

  Viy shop receives a great deal of repair work which I perform asa service to the very large classical guitar community here inCincinnati. Since 90# of the repair work involves action problems,I have been able, over the years, to work out a limited set ofparameters that may be applied to different playing techniques. Ialso frequently receive lutes that have developed action problems,or that were built with action problems. These have requiredeverything from minor adjustments to total rebuilding of theinstrument. The scope of this repair work has been great enough toallow me to develop insights into problems that could not have beengrasped if I did no repairs but only built instruments. Inaddition, discovering what sort of problems occur in an instrumentafter a number of years has been rather instructive. I nowanticipate these problems when I build and, as I will show later,use some construction techniques that could eventually allow somecompensation for these problems, any responsible maker will buildan instrument not only for the immediate needs of his customer butfor some future repairman (which will probably be himself if hebuilt the instrument) I am sure that the old lute makers didlikewise since all of the construction technioues that I use areoften found on old lutes. (One of the fascinating aspects ofbuilding reproductions of old instruments is solving someparticular problem of construction and later discovering that theold makers solved it in exactly the same way. In most cases this isprobably because there is really only one •olution that is simple,elegant, and the most appropriate for the problem.)

  This paper will be limited to a discussion of the mechanicalaspects of action and Kow they effect the playability of theinstrument, AS Geoff. Mather correctly points out in Comm. 33$,action also has a noticable effect on volume and tone. However, thebuilder will have to work this out for himself sine* it is rathersubjective. Too many variables (stringing, soundboard stiff ness,bridge sine and mass, your own notion of what constitute'.

• 35

  good tone and proper bass-treble balance) enter into it.

  String height at the bridge. Old lutes that I have measured hadholes bored as low as

  3mm above the soundboard ana as high as 6mm above the sounaboardon the treble side, holes on the bass side were usually (but notalways) higher, since the bass strings vibrate with a greateramplitude and require more clearance. Lutes with a very low stringclearance at the bridge may have ha

• 36

  The third form of dishing is the i.iost takes the form of alongitudinal concavity soundooard by planing a curve into the ribssoundboard (figure 4).

  interest inf. i';.if introduced inv. U> adjoining the

  This effect has been observed in extant instruments but haspreviously been taken to be the result of poor restoration. Somemodern makers regularly duplicate t: is concavity with interestingresults. Not only is string clearance increased in front of thebridge, but because of the curvature of the soundboard, normaldishing ^figure 1) does not occur. It would be interesting to hearthe tonal effects of this "pre-stressed" soundboard compared to anidentical instrument with a soundboard exhibiting normalload-tension bending (as in figure 1).

  However string clearance is managed, ther- is definitely a needto provide a high clearance for players who want to use a strict,classical guitar technique without scraping the fingerboard withtheir nails. The alternative to this is rejecting oraers from suchplayers (not an economically viable alternative for a full-time,professional lute maker) or building lutes with a low clearance andpetting scratched-up soundboards and complaints from customers. Ifrequently have to raise the string height at the bridge forplayers who h«ve purchased t; eir instrument from a maker who isunwilling to be flexible in \ is approach to the oroblem. Oddlyenough, the lutes with too low a string height at the bridge areinvariably the ones with too high an action over the fingerboard!String holes on a 7-course (5#-'o0cm mensur) lute, built for aplayer who chooses to use an authentic, thumb-under technique, Inormally bore 5mm above the soundboard at the treble side of thebridge, and 6mm above the soundboard at the bass siae of thebridge. *%. player who insists on using modern classical guitartechnicue gets his holes bored 6mm above the soundboard at thetreble side increasing to 7mm above the soundboard at the bassside, (fortunately only a few lutes have to be built to accomodatethis technique anymore J • Nov., these figures are meaninglessunless considered in conjunction with the neck angles and thestring heights over the fingerboard that will be describedbelow.

  Neck Angle Some makers have their iute necks canted forward(figure 5).

• 37

  This c rea t e s an unusually "hard" ac t i on , s ince t h e st r i ngs end up r a the r high off the f ingerboard. By "high" Imean 4mra or more a t the body f r e t , measuring from the top ofthe f re t to the bottom of the f i r s t course s t r i ng (figure 6 ) .

  Trr-Trr**"*^ JE-t£J W > i u m i n*i

  ' " '\T

  ' V\'V\\^\\\\>

  There is a precedent for this action established by Spanishguitar makers who have found th«t volume and projection could bemaximized and an agressive right-hand technique better accomodatedwith a hard action. It is a big mistake, however, to extrapolatemodern guitar acoustics and mechanics onto a lute. Thisconstruction technique not only coes not increase volume andprojection, it makes the lute overly difiicult to play. Worse, itleads to a situation where the string height at the bridge is toolow (holes bored j-^mm from the soundboard) since the strings mustbe lowered at the briuge to prevent the action at the body fretfrom becoming ridiculously high. Again, Geoff, lather's suggestion(Comm. 335) that, the neck be in parallel set, or in the same planeas the soundboard, results in the best action. By this I mean astring height at the body fret of no higher than 3mm under thefirst course ana no higher than 4mm under the seventh, or 5mm underthe tenth. Repairing a lute with a neck canted forward is difficultsince paring away the neck, making it shallower at the pegbox end,is not always possible. Planing wood from the too of the neck canresult in a narrower neck since, as seen in end view (figure 7) theneck is a sort of quasi-parabola. Cutting material from the top maymean rr.cving the courses closer together. If the neck is not wideenough to p-rmit this repair, it is necessary to disassemble thelute, remove and reglue the neck at t*e proper angle. Koreover,lowering the string height at the nut lowers the string height infront of the bridge even more, so the row of holes in the bridgemust now be raised. This is done by filling all the holes withdowels (toothpicks), gluing on a bridge cap, and redrilling » newrov; of holes (with a flexible shaft and rdn chuck). The dril] tdtcan be guided by filing grooves for the new holes in the top of thebridge before gluing on the bridge cap.

  I ocassionally glue a neck on a lute with a backward cant(figure 8). This is done in order to get a low string heightover

  l^-2mm displacement

  the fingerboard when the strings are quite high at the bridge(for the reasons given above), glare frequently, 1 tilt a neckbackward and then glue on a wedge-shaped fingerLOard, thinner atthe neck/body joint and thicker near the pegbox. This brings thesurface of the fingerboard back into the same plane as the

• 38

  soundboard. In this way, I have anticipated an eventualproblem-, an increase in string height over the fingerboard causedby the neck pulling upward under string tension over a long periodof time. The action can be lowered by planing down the fingerboardat the thick end. I have seen wedge-shaped fingerboards on some oldlutes (although I don't kr.ow how original they were) and I imaginethey served the same function. This method also allows me to getthe first two or chree courses as low as possible by shaving alittle more wood off the fingerboard on the treble side.

  Neck relief When a string on a lute is set in motion byplucking, it

  moves in a long arc (figure 9). In order to prevent the stringfrom buzzing against a fret or frets, the shape of the neck mustecho this shape.

  This is called neck relief. It may be introduced into the neckby scraping the fingerboard or oy tieing on frets that aregraduated in size—the largest fret nearest the nut and the smallestat the neck/body joint. * certain amount of neck relief will occuras a result of normal string tension, but this is usually notenough to prevent buzzing with a good, low action (as describedabove). I usually do both. I scrape the neck to introduce neckrelief but also to give a slight camber to the neck (which helpshold the frets tight against it). The frets are still graduated insize, but because the neck has been slightly hollowed(longitudinally) only a few sizes are needed. I usually end up withfour different diameters—the first three frets are 1.0, .9, .9 mm,the second three are .8mm, and the third three (I like to have atleast nine frets on a neck) are .7mm. Thus, my customer does nothave to fuss with too many different fret sizes. (Neither do Isince I am the one who usually ends up supplying fret gut). Withoutneck relief, it is impossible to get a good,"low action" withoutbuzzing.

  Occasionally, string height at the body fret is too high becauseof too much neck relief. Usually this is because the frets nearestthe fretnut are too thick. This situation is always accompanied bya fretnut that is too high. Lowering all of these usually solvesthe problem, although scraping is sometimes necessary under frets3, 4, 5, and 6, to eliminate small buzzes in this area. Test forproper neck relief by pressing any string down against the firstfret and against the body fret. The string should clear the 4th and5th frets by about 1/64 inch or not more than .5 mm. A higherclearance means too much neck relief.

  If a 1.0mm fret is used in front of the fretnut, the height ofthe nut should be just enough to allow the strings to clear thefirst fret without buziing. This usually means a height of 1.3 to1.6 mm (from the treble to the bass side). Since different neckangles and different bridge heights will create a different set ofparameters for regulating action, other fret diameters than theones that I suggested may be necessary. Thicker or thinner fretsmay be used, but the net result is the same because action is notmeasured from the fingerboard or soundboard to the bottom of thestring—it is always measured from the top of the body fret to tbebottom of the string.

• 39

  I am convinced that makers who construct lutes with the neckcanted forward do this because they do not understand the conceptof neck relief. Usually the frets on these lutes are all of thesame diameter, a situation that seems to cohfirm my suspicion.*

  I have attempted to show that acquiring a good "low", "fast" ,or "soft" a c t i o n i s the r e s u l t of regulat ing a numberof v a r i a b l e s , inc luding height of s t r i n g s a t thebridge, neck ang le , neck r e l i e f , and f r e t s i z e .String length and s t r ing tens ion w i l l a l s o e f f e c t ac t i o n . Higher s t r i n g t ens ions w i l l only a l low s li g h t l y lower s t r i n g h e i g h t s at the fingerboard s in c e the e f f e c t of tens ion i s n e g l i g a b l e . Theabove comments are d irec ted toward 7-course l u t e s with s t ri n g lengths shorter than 63cm. 10-course l u t e s with 65cm orlonger s t r i n g lengths and Baroque l u t e s w i l l require as l i g h t l y higher a c t i o n . 10-course l u t e s of 65cm wi l l usua l ly be 3*5mm between the body f r e t and the f i r s tcourse , increas ing to 5m» underneath the 10th course . Baroque lu t e s w i l l be 3 .5 t o 4 mm under the f i r s t course t o 5or 6 mm under the e l eventh .

  I t goes without saying that f r e t s should always be gutrather than nylon. Gut tends to bed in when t i e d t i g h t l yaround a neck, whi le nylon f r e t s l eave a s l i g h t gapbetween the f r e t and the fingerboard underneath the f i r s tand l a s t course. This i s due to the i n a b i

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