A network for historic guitars and vihuelas
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I've been thinking about making one of these my next project. I was looking at the StewMac tenor uke kit for $142.00
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Kits/Ukulele_Kits/Tenor_Ukulele_Kit.html
or this one:
http://www.rainydayukes.com/products.php#kits
Still waiting for things to fall into place so I can set up a small shop and do another scratch build. In the meantime, one of these kits would be a quick way to get acquainted with renaissance guitar repertoire.
Blair, was this from scratch or a kit?
Thanks for the infos. I will test pegheds on my next ukulele (Dias Glyph tenor...)
Waiting for the rose picts ;-)
Val
I attended a very interesting lecture by lute maker/player Ray Nurse this past summer where he discussed lute/guitar roses (amongst many other things...don't pass up a chance to hear him talk if you get the opportunity). He believes, much like you (if I read your comment correctly) Blair, that the rose (parchment or integral) is mostly an aesthetic feature of the early instruments. It does have some effect on the sound of the instrument but he maintains that is not the primary feature of the rose. As the listener often sat very close to the player (for various reasons) "it gave them something to look at other than the players fingers."
And as one who often repairs/restores early instruments I can tell you that the workmanship on the inside of these historical beauties is pretty rough much of the time..."if you cannot see it who cares?"
I have to admit that I must be a product of the modern luthiers attitude of "super clean everywhere" because if the inside of my instruments looked anything like what I've seen...I'd want to hide as much of it as I could too.
The acoustical change from a parchment rose is nominal, vegetable versus animal even less so. A carved rose like that in a lute are integral into the soundboard likely having an effect. But the lute soundboard is nothing like a guitar soundboard, many-many small braces in many positions on the lute soundboard, none to one simple brace in early guitars/vihuelas.
Antonio de Torrez (one of the most important fathers of the modern guitar) played with sound hole enhancers, little to no lasting effect is the general consensus. The source for wood of the lower bout of the soundboard, its thickness, and bracing drive the sound you get, everything else is just little changes to the brightness and other features.
The rose is more aesthetic/historic then a sound changer. Beautiful they are though!
I looked up pegheds and violinists who have tried them mostly do seem to very much like them (despite the stigma of anything modern in a deeply conservative branch of instruments!) And a couple of flamenco guitarists liked them too.
Beautiful roses. Did you notice any difference in acoustic qualities between the two materials?
Come to think of it how would a regular uke sound if it was poshed-up with a rose?
Parchment is generally considered the goat or deer skin, this is expensive, but available, and a bit tough to work with (very tough to get glues to hold) I borrowed the term vegetable parchment from another maker used it to describe a 100% cotton acid fee handmade watercolor paper. It looks and reacts like animal skins, but is easier to work with.
The Pegheds weight the same as turned plum-wood pegs, I have used both. They weight 1/4 that of standard ukulele pegs and offer geared tuning and a historic look. Tuning even with only a 4:1 is so very much nicer.
The 50cm design fits in a very lightweight baritone ukulele hard case that is available for about $40 and is easy to transport and check on planes, a nice size to travel with. I set up the gauge of strings to give the same feel as the larger instruments.
I'll add a few rose close ups I have used in the past for vihuelas and guitars. Designing these are a bit tedious but a blast to cut and assemble.
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