rootsguitar - 9-22-2013 at 05:57 PM
Hello all,
Tied the frets back on my lute. Latest set up: 8 string played with brass slide (tuned: G-Aa-Dd-A-D-F)
Thanks much for the great inspiration here last winter. The last thread I remember was about micro tones and had awesome ideas to take back to the
woods.
Kemenche link especially made an impression...best autumn wishes,
Going to get reading now ( see what I've missed)
here's that lute video if interested
http://youtu.be/n3EVNSaYwps
Christian1095 - 9-22-2013 at 09:53 PM
Nice, I really like the slide
Arto - 9-25-2013 at 03:37 AM
Haunting, eerie, almost disturbingly beautiful music... Sounded Appalachian to me - modal, melancholy. Nylon strings and slide make the music sound
somewhat like fretless banjo. So beautiful... I envy your talent!
rootsguitar - 10-27-2013 at 11:32 AM
Thanks very much for the good word!
Travelled to the coast here and found a violin maker to carve new and larger tuning pegs.
The stock pegs of this 8c EMS lute seem very small compared to the photos of oud pegs that I've seen.
Dropping a few more courses to allow room for these new tuners will be worth the change.
I imagine tuning will be smoother.
Still sticking with the tied on frets too. They make the sound project more with the unwound strings I'm using.
Perhaps wound strings paved the way for the oud's fretless present.
Thanks again
jdowning - 10-27-2013 at 02:47 PM
Oud frets were already on the way out by the 14th C. (Ibn al Tahan describes the use of frets but writes that he has no need for them) although there
is a painting, dated circa 1630, depicting a fretted oud being played at the Persian court of Shah Safi (ref. Farmer).
Close wound strings - metal wire on a silk filament core - as far as we know were a 19th C Western innovation and may have been adopted by oud players
most likely later in the 19th C. Today's wound strings have a nylon filament core and did not become generally available until the 1960's.
Open wound strings were first advertised for sale in England at the end of the 17th C but it is not known when these came into general use - if they
ever did - (perhaps on 13 course baroque lutes up to around 1750 when lutes went out of favour 'died the death')?
Prior to the 19th C oud strings were made of either silk filament or gut.
rootsguitar - 10-27-2013 at 07:05 PM
I’ve always appreciated your input here and have been investigating your post on lute/oud geometry comparisons.
It’s a generous way to share your work.
One thing I noticed from going back to frets is what seems to be a welcomed increase in volume.
It is interesting that besides just mapping out the neck, frets do influence the actual timbre, especially w unwound strings played without a
plectrum.
Thanks &---best
Jack_Campin - 11-11-2013 at 05:22 PM
Is there a handy site that tells you how to tie fret knots?
I have an Afghan rubab which has been Kashmirified by having one fret taken off. I'd like to put it back, but I can't figure out the knot used for
the three remaining ones.
rootsguitar - 12-9-2013 at 06:04 PM
Hi Jack
Here's an image borrowed from an accomplished lute maker's website (David Van Edwards).
Would be interested to see a pic of your rubab's fretboard if possible.
Also what tuning you've been using. Thanks,
------T
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