•rf - FoMRHI

Horniman wind instruments, p.6
p.lOO continued
Saxhorn, Boosey. Thia is a Koenig Horn, and it has three crooks
and compensating pistons.
Bugie, Carse 56B. This is a Boy's Bugie, pitched in the usuai
B fiat but with small bore to make it less effort to
blow.
I hope that these details may be of use, now that the Carse Catalorrue
is out of print. Morley Pegge gave me more detail on the brass than
on the woodwind. Perhaps another FoMRHI member can give us more detail
cf the woodwinds. ìt may be worth saying again that as well as the
handbook, the plates can be bought as a separate little folder, casting
only 15p-> so that if you know anycne working as a student of wind
instruments, there are ampie illustrations available very cheaply
(where else can you buy 92 photographs for 15p.?) to illustrate any
written work.
FURTHER ON COMMUNICATION 29
E Segerman and D Abbott
Comm. 29 has aroused some discussion amongst lute makers, especially at the
annual informai get-together at the Lute Society Summer School. We talked to
people who have seen many more rarly lutps than we have. and as a result some
points need modifieation.
C 1. The end elasp can be thinner than the ribs so that it can more easily bend
around the compound curve. On the inside, opposite it, with about the same
width, somewhat shorter in length and up to 3 times its thickness, is an
inside clasp called 'fausse' or 'contrebragne' by Mersenne. These two clasps
sandwich the ends of the ribs which, according to Hellwig's X~rays, can
often be rather broken-off inside. * *
C 7.The neck block cutaway is not as common on originai instruments as we
thought. This is a pity since the acoustic and repair advantages with no
strength disadvantages are so obvious.
Several points need to be emphasized with respect to Comm. 29. We attempted to
indicate what we hoped were typical parameters of early lutes. The proper research
assembling ali of the data possible so as to try to determine what is typical (and
what were significant variants from typical) at each time and place has not yet been
done. As we said, some was just guesswork based on relatively little data. For
instance the suggestion in C 13 to increase the rib thickness to 2 mm. is based only
on an originai mid~16th century lute back in our possession which has sycamore
ribs 1.8 - 2.5 mm. thick Mersenne (1636) said 2.5 mm. We have since been told
by an authority that most of the lutes he has restored had ribs closer to lmm. in
thickness.
We hope that there was no implication read into Comm. 29 Section C that Philip
McCleod Coupé agreed with ali of our suggested modifications. Until the proper
research is done (and perhaps even after, if the data cannot resolve issues) it is
appropriate that there be friendly differences of opinion.
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