Mike's Oud Forums

Curved fretboard in a baroque lute - how to avoid high action?

melocotonization - 2-8-2015 at 08:55 PM

Hello!
I recently finished my first self-made lute. It's a transitional period (late renaissance, early baroque) 10 course instrument.

I decided, according to Thomas Mace, to put a slightly crosswise-curved fretboard, to make it more convenient for performing an early baroque repertoire. The fretboard is flat close to the soundboard and it rises slightly towards the head up to about 4 mm.

The problem is, that in spite of quite a low bridge and well shaped low nut, that rises about 1 mm above the fretboard, the strings action above the 12-th fret is still way to high (about 6 mm).

Is there any way to deal with this problem?

jdowning - 2-9-2015 at 05:59 AM

Mace does not say by how much you should crown a fingerboard but even 'flat' fingerboards should be slightly crowned (about say 0.5 mm to 1 mm at the nut). This ensures that the frets will lie tightly against the surface. Baroque lutes often had more extreme curvatures both at the nut as well as at the neck joint location requiring shaping of the neck block to match the curvature as well as shaping the bridge into a matching curve.

Your fingerboard is flat at the neck joint so it may be possible - if there is sufficient thickness in the fingerboard - to reduce the amount of crowning at the nut by planing back the fingerboard.
If reshaping the fingerboard is feasible then this would be a simpler solution than the alternative of removing the fingerboard and planing back the neck - or resetting the neck entirely if there is insufficient material to allow planing back.

The fingerboard surface at the nut end should not be higher than the plane of the belly with the lute unstrung.

melocotonization - 2-9-2015 at 07:06 AM

Ha! Thank You for your response. Indeed I didn't think about shaping the neck to match the curve of the fretboard. I drew the lute as it was an 8 course late renaissance lute, but wanted to enhance it with a curved fingerboard. Thanks for the advice.

I wonder, is it necessary to curve the bridge to match the curve of the nut/fingerboard? The fingerboard is going flat towards the body after all.

Matthias - 2-9-2015 at 07:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by melocotonization  
Hello!
I recently finished my first self-made lute. It's a transitional period (late renaissance, early baroque) 10 course instrument.

I decided, according to Thomas Mace, to put a slightly crosswise-curved fretboard, to make it more convenient for performing an early baroque repertoire. The fretboard is flat close to the soundboard and it rises slightly towards the head up to about 4 mm.

The problem is, that in spite of quite a low bridge and well shaped low nut, that rises about 1 mm above the fretboard, the strings action above the 12-th fret is still way to high (about 6 mm).

Is there any way to deal with this problem?


Hello,

6mm mm action at the 12th fret seems for me a big reset - that means taking off the soundboard & the neck for changing the neck angle - as the 4mm fingerboard at the saddle gives you only an option of 1 mm reducing at the 12th fret. This is not enough in your situation.
It will be an interesting practise to partly unglue a lute.

Curving the bridge while having a slightly curved fingerboard of let's say 1 mm is for me not necessary. This is only a must, if you have a curved fingerboard of 6mm like it is the case on late baroque lutes ( like Hoffmann ).

Matthias

jdowning - 2-9-2015 at 12:19 PM

I was only making an observation about curved bridges being found on some Baroque lutes with more extreme fingerboard curvatures not that such a bridge would be required for a 'flat' fingerboard arrangement - so I agree with the response by Matthias.

Good luck with the sound board removal etc.