2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

BacktoindexofguitarpagesbyDonaldSauter.

MyQuasiBaroqueGuitar

[Link],Iwantedtoplay
Baroqueguitarmusic"faithfully".Notnecessarilyasfaithfullyaspossiblethatwould
requirearealBaroqueguitar,[Link]
expense.

Asbigasthatproblemis,forme,personally,thereisanevenbiggerone:theneedto
reorientthehandstonewfretandstringspacingseverytimeIswitchbackandforth
[Link]
onthatchallenge,but...notme,brother!

Tobereasonablyfaithful,[Link]
[Link]
seemedlikeitwouldbeaverysimplethingtoaddtwoextrastringtunersonthehead
[Link]
twoextraholesthroughthebridgefortheaddedstrings.

Afteryearsofcontemplation,ithitmeallatonceIdidn'thavetodrillholesinthe
[Link]
[Link],ofcourse,thatthetwo
[Link],aYamahaG50A,theydowith
[Link].

Iwenttoaninstrumentrepairshopandtheysoldmeacoupleofusedsteelstring
[Link]
tunersandslidthesearoundontheundersideoftheheaduntilIfoundgoodpositions
[Link]
barrelsandthemachineswereattachedwithlittlescrews.

Slotswerefiledintothenutnexttotheslotsforthe4thand5thstringsusingmy
[Link].Myslotsare2millimeters
apart(centertocenter)[Link]
[Link]
wood.

AtthispointImayhaveyelled,"Voila!"IfIdid,[Link]
headachewasfindingtherightstrings.Todoublethe4thstringwithahighoctave,I
[Link],todoublethe5thstring,
[Link],it
didn'ttakelongtorealizethattherewassimplytoomuchtotaltensiononthe4thand
[Link]'tworriedabouttheinstrument,whichisquiterobust,butmy
fingerswouldsoonachepressingtwostringsatoncerequiringjustabouttwicethe
accustomedpressure.

Tryingtofindtheproperstringsdraggedmeintothemorassluteplayerscall"string
calculation".Thisdeservesawholearticleinitself.(Seemywebpageonthe
sensiblestringmeasure.)Inanutshell,letmesaythecurrentsituationisacomplete
[Link],classicalguitarstringsaresoldinsetsnotinarangeofgaugeslike
[Link],eveniftheyweresoldinarangeofgauges,thegauge,or
stringdiameter,isnotausefulmeasurement.

[Link] 1/5
2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

Giventhescalelengthofyourguitar,thedesirednoteandthedesiredtension,you
[Link]
[Link]"grams
permeter".Unfortunately,stringmanufacturersdonotsupplythisbitofinformation.

Usinghighandlowtensionclassicalguitarstrings,plussomethinlutestrings,I
[Link]
formyhandsoIloweredthewholethingahalfstep.I'msurewhenafewmore
peopleconvertmodernguitarstoquasiBaroqueguitars,acombinationofcareful
stringcalculationsandsometrialanderrorwillyieldageneralsolutiontothis
problem.

[Link]
[Link]/[Link]
tuningsdifferinthatonealsohasatreble/basspaironthe5thcourse,whiletheother
hastreble/treble.GasparSanzsupposedlyusednobassesoneitherthe4thor5th
course,soyoucouldsimplyuseamodern,singlestrungguitarwithtrebleAandD
[Link]???Hasanybodyeverhadsatisfyingresults
playinghismusicwithoutbasses?I'malwayswaitingforsomebodytotakeacloser
examinationofwhathewroteandannounce,"Hey,we'vebeenmisinterpreting!That's
notwhatSanzmeant!"

ThegoalofnothavingtoreorientgoingfromthemoderntotheBaroqueguitarwas
[Link],withthedoubledstrings,youhaveto
[Link]'seasiertohitan
[Link]
benefityourtechniqueonthemodernguitar.

Iwonderedwhetherthetuningmachinesfortheaddedstringscouldbeimproved
[Link],
[Link],simplerandmaintains
[Link]"intune"withthespiritofaBaroqueguitar.
Ontheotherhand,it'[Link]
pegwasaddedasanexperiment,butsinceitwasthereIputitinservicedoublingthe
3rdstringforevenmoreauthenticity.

Thepicturesbelowshowthemodifiedhead,frontandback,andtheunmodified
bridgewithdoublestringing.

[Link] 2/5
2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

[Link] 3/5
2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

[Link]
[Link]
[Link]:steelstringtuning
machinesorviolapegs,extraslotsinthenut,andspacerscrewsbehindthesaddle.
Findingtherightstringsisaproblem,butyoucancomeupwithsomethingifyou
haveafewthinlutestringstoexperimentwith.

Thisleavesuswiththefinalquestion:whattoplay?CertainlynotBaroqueguitar
[Link]
dissertationsthatincludetranscriptionsofBaroqueguitartablatureintomusic
notation,butmanyoftheseareuselesstotheperformersincetheynotatethehigh
octaveofthe4thand/[Link]'sworkon
FrancescoCorbettawhichincludesallofhismusicwrittensothat,ifyoureadas
younormallywouldforamodernguitar,[Link]
buyfacsimileeditionsoftheBaroqueguitarists,buttheproblemthereisthewidely
varyingtypesoftablature,[Link]
whotakeonthatmonster,but,onceagain...notme,brother!

[Link]
[Link]'tknowhoweasytheyareto
useandwhethertheyaresmartenoughtoconvertfromfretletterstofretnumbers,
[Link],Isuspectthisisthewaytogo
forthetimebeing.

BeforethegloriousdayarriveswhenBaroqueguitarismadeaccessibletothe
yearningmassesweneedonlythreesimple,logicalthings:

[Link],easytoread,self
contained,moderntablature.(Seemywebpage.)

[Link]
intothismoderntablature.

[Link].

HereisaGavottebyLudovicoRoncallifaithfullytranslatedintoamoderntablature.
ItcorrespondstothetablaturefacsimileshowninFrederickNoad'sBaroqueGuitar
anthology,[Link]'stranscriptionformodern
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]'soriginal
tablature(andthistranslation)includesstrums,trillsandchordinversionsallvery
characteristicelementsofBaroqueguitarmusicwhichwereleftoutofthe
transcription.
GavotteLudovicoRoncalli
____________________________________
||.|||.||.||.||.||||.|||.||.||.|||
_____________________________________________________________________
___3__2|_0_0__0____0_____|________________|______5_7__5_"3__2|"0____|
_3_____|________3____1__3|_0_______"0_0__2|_3_3______________|___3__|
_______|_________________|_0__2_"0__0_____|________0_________|_____*|
_______|_________________|________________|_4________________|___0_*|
_______|_3______2____0___|________________|__________________|_0____|
_______|_________________|________________|__________________|______|

____________^|______________^____
||.||||.||.||v||.||.||.||.|||||.|
____________________________________________________________________
[Link] 4/5
2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

|________|_____0__3_"2__0|_2_____8___|____2_3__0_"0___|_0___0______|
|____3__1|"0_0_______1___|_4___8___10|"8__________4__4|_____3_"1__0|
|*_2_____|_0_____________|_4_________|_9__________4___|_____1______|
|*_______|_______________|_4_________|________________|___2________|
|________|_____3_____0___|_2_________|________________|___2________|
|________|_______________|___________|________________|____________|

__________________________________________|
|.||.||.||.||.||.||.||.||.||.||.||v
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________|______3__2_0__0_5__3|_2__3_5__7_"5__2|_3_3__||_
_1__0_1____3__5_"3___|_0__3_______________|________________|___3__||_
_2_______2__________5|_0__________________|________________|_0___*||_
___________4_________|____________________|_0______________|_____*||_
_____________________|___________3________|________________|___2__||_
_____________________|____________________|________________|______||_

Footnote:DonRowedevisedanothermethodforconvertingamodernguitarintoa
[Link],butnoadditionaltuners.
(GuitarReview49,page24.)

ContactDonaldSauter:sendanemailviewguestbooksignguestbook.
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[Link] 5/5