For Chusing of Lute-strings .

WHen wee take in hand to instruct or teach a man on the LVTE , wee doe suppose that hee knoweth before ( be hee neuer so rude ) what a String , a Fret , a Stop , a Stroke , &c. meaneth : therefore it were not conuenient for a Teacher to stand vpon euery small point and matter that may be thought appertayning to the Art of Lute-playing , but to leaue and let passe ouer some things , as apparant of themselues , or easie to be discerned of euery learner , by Nature , Sense , Reason , or common Experience , and therefore we will onely entreat and giue resolution of those things which are most needfull : of which chusing of Lute-strings is not the least , Ordinarily therefore wee choose Lute-strings by the freshnesse , or new making : the which appeares vnto vs by their cleere and oylinesse , as they lye in the Boxe or bundle ; yet herein we are often deceiued , for Oyle at any time will make strings looke cleere , and therefore this tricke is too too commonly vsed to them when they are old .

Now because Trebles are the principall strings wee neede to get , choose them of a faire and cleere whitish gray , or ash-colour , and take one of the knots in your hand , but let it not be too small , for those giue no sound , besides they will be either rotten for lacke of substance , or extreame false . Also open the boutes of one of the ends of the Knot , and then hold it vp against the light , and looke that it be round and smooth : but if you discerne it to be curlie , as the thread of a curled Cypris , or horse hayre , ( which you may as well feele as see ) then refuse them , although they be both cleere and strong , because those strings were not well twisted , and therefore will neuer be true on the Instrument . For trying the strength of these strings , some doe set the top of their fore or middle finger on one of the ends of the Knot , which if they finde stiffe , they hould them then as good ; but if it bend as wee say , through a dankish weakenesse , then they are not strong . Some againe doe take the end of the string between their teeth , and then plucke it , and thereby if it breake faseld at the end , then it is strong , but if it breake stubbed then it is weake . This Rule also is houlden for the breaking of a string betweene the hands . The best way , is to plucke out an end of the string ( if the seller will suffer you , if hee will not assure your selfe that those strings which hee sheweth you are old or mingled , ) and then looke for the cleernesse and faults before spoken , as also for faseling with little hayres . And againe looke amongst the boutes , at one end of the Knot , that the string be not parted , I meane one peece great and another small , then draw it hard betweene your hands , to try the strength , which done , hould it vp againe against the light betweene your hands , and marke whether it be cleere as before ; if it be not but looke muddie , as a browne thread , such strings are old , and haue beene rubbed ouer with oyle to make them cleere . This choosing of strings is not alone for Trebles , but also for small and great Meanes : greater strings though they be ould are better to be borne withall , so the colour be good , but if they be fresh and new they will be cleere against the light , though their colour be blackish .

Now againe some old strings will hould well the stretching betweene your hands , yet when you set them on the Instrument they will sticke , ( and rise by starts ) in the Nut , and there breake , euen in the tuning : the best remedy when the strings sticke so , is to rub the little nickes of the Nut , ( in which the string slides ) with a little Oyle , Waxe , or black lead . If you desire to choose strings that are not false , that the maker cannot promise you ; but there is a rule for the knowledge thereof by sight after the string is drawn out , which being it is so ordinarie and so well knowne , I hould it not fit to trouble you with the relation . Some strings there are which are coloured , out of which choose the lightest colours , viz. among Greene choose the Sea-water , of Red the Carnation , and of Blew the Watcher .

Now these strings as they are of two sorts , viz. Great and Small : so either sort is pact vp in sundry kindes , to wit , the one sort of smaller strings ( which come from Rome and other parts of Italy ) are bound vp by certain Dozens in bundels ; these are very good if they be new , if not , their strength doth soone decay : the other sort are pact vp in Boxes , and come out of Germany : of these , those strings which come from Monnekin and Mildorpe , are and continue the best . Likewise there is a kinde of strings of a more fuller and larger sort then ordinary ( which we call Gansars . ) These strings for the sizes of the great and small Meanes , are very good , but the Trebles are not strong . Yet also there is another sort of the smaller strings , which are made at Liuornia in Tuscanie : these strings are rolled vp round together , as if they were a companie of horse hayres . These are good if they be new , but they are but halfe Knots . Note there is some store of these come hither lately , and are here made vp , and passe for whole Knots . For the greater sorts or Base strings , some are made at Nurenburge , and also at Straesburge , and bound vp onely in knots like other strings . These strings are excellent , if they be new , if not , they fall out starke false . The best strings of this kinde are double knots ioyned together , and are made at Bologna in Lumbardie , and from thence are sent to Venice : from which place they are transported to the Martes , and therefore commonly called Venice Catlines . The best time for the Marchant is to prouide his strings at Michaelmas , for then the string-makers bring their best strings which were made in the Summer to Franckford , and Lypzig Martes . Contrarily at Easter they bring their Winter strings , which are not so good .

Of setting the right sizes of Strings vpon the Lute .

FOR the well ordering and setting on the right sizes of strings vpon the Lute , the sences of Seeing and Feeling is required . Wherefore first haue consideration to the greatnesse or smalnesse of the Instrument , and thereby proportionably size your strings , appointing for the bigger Lute the greater strings , and for the lesser Lute the smaller strings , which being so thought on , first set on your Trebles , which must be strayned neither too stiffe not too slacke , but of such a reasonable height that they may deliuer a pleasant sound , and also ( as Musitions call it ) play too and fro after the strokes thereon . Secondly , set on your Bases , in that place which you call the sixt string , or Γ vt : these Bases must be both of one bignes , yet it hath beene a generall custome ( although not so much vsed any where as here in England ) to set a small and a great string together , but amongst learned Musitions that custome is left , as irregular to the rules of Musicke . But to our purpose : these double Bases likewise must neither be stretched too hard , nor too weake , but that they may according to your feeling in striking with your Thombe and finger equally counterpoyse the Trebles , yeelding from them a low or deepe sound , distant from the Trebles an Interuall called Disdiapason . Now the Base being ordered , proceede to the Tenor , which strings must be so much smaller then the Base , that they may reach a Diatessaron higher , that is , a fourth , or to say better , foure Notes higher : that being done , strike the Tenor with your Thombe , and the Treble with your fore-finger both together , and you shall heare them sound the Interuall Diapason cum Diapente . Thus as the sounds increase in height , so the strings must decrease in greatnesse . Likewise by the contrary , for those Accessories , which are the seauenth , eight and ninth string , &c. keeping the former counterpeise , as if they were equall things waighed in an euen Ballance .

Of fretting the Lute .

ALthough it may be thought we doe not herein keepe a good Decorum , because our discourse is first of fretting the Lute , rather then of Tuning , which is most commonly vsed : yet for that we meane this to Schollers , and not Maisters ( seeing both these things are so needefull ) I haue rather chosen this subiect first , hoping hereby to make the easier induction to Tuning : which part is not the least , and of most desired , because between Fretting and Tuning there is Simphonie by Antiphonie , that is to say , through the winding vp and letting downe of the strings , an Accord riseth from Discord , so as of contrary Notes is composed a sweet Tune , which doth concurre and after a sort of meeting together , bring foorth by their agreement that sound which pleaseth the Eare. Wherefore as that famous Maister in Musicke Andreas Ornithoparcus , saith in lib. 1. cap. 3. of his Micrologus : a voyce is compact of a Key and a Sillable : euen so here the sounds on the Lute , by which a Tenor of Notes may be expressed ) are compact of a stoppe and a stroke ; whose distinction is shewed by Strings called of the auncient Musitions Pthongos , and also by Frets called Nerui , Glarianus lib. 1. Dedocha . Now these frets of late yeeres were but seauen in number , as witnesseth Hans Gerle Lutenist , Citizen and Lute-maker of Nurenburge , ( for so he stileth himselfe in his booke of Tableture , printed 1533. ) and so the seauenth fret ( according to the Monochord in the Diatonike order ) rested vpon the Diapente . Yet presently after there was added an eight fret : for my selfe was borne but thirty yeeres after Hans Gerles booke was printed , and all the Lutes which I can remember vsed eight frets , and so ended at the Semitonium cum Diapente .

But yet as Plautus saith , Nature thirsting after knowledge , is alwayes desirous to inuent and seeke more , by the wittie conceit ( which I haue seene , and not altogether to be disalowed ) of our most famous countriman Mr. Mathias Mason Lutenist , and one of the Groomes of his Maiesties most honourable Priuie Chamber , ( as it hath ben told me , ) inuented three frets more , the which were made of wood , and glued vpon the belly , and from thence about some few yeeres after , by the French Nation , the neckes of the Lutes were lengthned , and thereby increased two frets more , so as all those Lutes which are most receiued and disired , are of tenne frets . Now to place these frets aright , whereby wee may make vse of these various sounds by them caused , there is two wayes : the one is the deuine sence of Hearing , which those that be skilfull doe most vse , and according to the opinion of the Stoiks , is a Spirit reaching from the Vnderstanding to the Eares , and thereby ( after the Instrument is tuned open ) doe set them in their order ; yet as Caluisius in de initio & progressu Musicis saith , the sence of Hearing of all others deceiueth most , and cannot discerne and iudge of the sounds in the smaller Interuals . To this agreeth Valla Placentinus in lib. 2. cap. 3. of his Musicke , wherein hee writeth that those sounds must be censured and pondered with naturall Instruments , and not by the Eares , whose iudgement is dull , but by wit and reason .

Now the certaintie thereof was first sound out ( as Petrus Comester in Historia Scholastica saith ) by Iubals waighing of his brother Tubals Hammers : but most Authors attribute this vnto Pithagoras , ( the sonne of Mnesarchus a Samian borne ) the first author of the name of Philosophie , who flourished in the time of Cambices king of Persia , seauenty yeeres after the captiuitie of Babilon ended : when Tarquinius superbus the last King of the Romaines raigned : more then sixe hundred yeeres after the destruction of Troy ; and fiue hundred yeeres before the birth of Christ , and the manner of it was thus . Pithagoras searching after a certaine distance of Interuals , left the iudgement of the Eares , and went to the rules of Reason : for hee would not giue credit to mans Eares , which are chaunged partly by Nature , partly by outward accidents : as for example , let a companie of Lutenists , Violists , &c. which be skilfull , play each after other , and you see euery one as the Instrument commeth to him , Tune according to the iudgement of his owne Eare. Besides , Pithagoras was giuen to no Instruments , amongst which commonly there groweth much varietie and vncertaintie , being that euen now if you will regard the strings , the Ayre being moyst dulles their sound , or dry , makes them dry , or by some other accident doth chaunge the state of their former constancie . Now being all other Instruments were subiect to the same , hee accounting all these things to be of no waight nor truth , did with great toyle studie a long time how hee might learne the firme and constant course of Concords . Meane while ( as God would haue it ) passing by the Smith shops , hee heard the beating of their Hammers , and that of diuers sounds there was as it were one consent . Wherefore amazed at this , hee set to that worke which he had long intented , and pondering long thought that the strength of the strikers did make the diuersitie of the sounds : which that it might be more euident vnto him , hee bad them change hammers , but the propertie of the sounds was not in the Armes of the strikers , but in the hammers which were chaunged : wherefore marking that , hee takes the waight of the hammers , and being by chance there fiue hammers , they were found to be duple in waight , which answered themselues , according to the concord of a Diapason , and that which was duple to the least , hee found to be a Sesquitertia to another , to whom it sounded a Diatessaron . And againe hee found that the same duple was a Sesquialter to that , with which it was ioyned in a Diapente concord . Now those two , to whom the former duple was proued to be a Sesquitertius and Sesquialter , were found to keepe a Sesquioctaua proportion one with another betwixt themselues : and the fift hammer which was a discord to all of them was reiected . Whereas therefore before Pithagoras his time , the Musicall concords were called partly Diapason , partly Diapente , and partly Diatessaron , which was thought the least of all Concords . Wherefore Pithagoras was the first that by this meanes found out by what proportion this diuersitie of sounds was ioyned together .

And to make that which is spoken more plaine , let there be for examples sake of hammers foure waights , which let be comprehended in the numbers vnder-written , 12.9.8 . and 6. Those hammers which waigh 12. and 6. pounds , did strike a Diapason , or eight Concord in the duple the hammer that waighed 12. to the hammer of 9. pound waight , and farther the hammer of 8. pound , to the hammer of 6. pound , according to the Sesquitertia proportion , were ioyned in a Concord of a fourth , or in a Diatessaron : then the 9. pound hammer to that of 6. and of 12. to 8. did mingle a fift or Diapente , in the Sesquialtera proportion . Againe , the hammer of 9. to that of 8. did sound in a Sesquioctaua proportion . Wherefore returning backe againe from hence , and searching by manifold tryals , whether the whole nature of Concords did consist in these proportions , and so fitting the waights ( which answered the late found proportions ) to strings , hee iudged of their Concords by his Eare. Then ouerseeing the doublenesse and halfe of the strings length , and fitting the other proportions , he gat a most true rule out of his manifold experience , and was exceedingly ioyed that hee had found that which in all things answered with the truth : hitherto are Boetius his words .

Thus the Interuals being found out by waight and number , wee will endeauour to set them downe by measure : whereby the ignorant may perceiue by this vndiuided Trinitie , that the finger of God framed Musicke , when his Word made the World. Wherefore take a thinne flat ruler of whitish woode , and make it iust as long and straight as from the inward side of the Nut to the inward side of the Bridge , then note that end which you meane to the Bridge with some small marke , and the other end with the letter A. because you may know which belongeth to the one and to the other : then lay the ruler vpon a Table , and take a payre of compasses and seeke out the iust middle of the Ruler : that note with a pricke , and set the letter N. vpon it , which is a Diapason from the A. as appeareth by the striking of the string open . Secondly , part the distances from N. to D. in three parts , then the first part giues you the seauenth fret from the Nut , making a Diapente : in that place also set a pricke , and vpon it the letter H. Thirdly , deuide the distance from the letter H. to the letter A. in eleauen parts : two of which parts from A. giues the first fret , note that with a pricke , and set the letter B. thereon , which maketh a Semitone . Fourthly , diuide the distance from H. to the letter A. in three parts , one of which parts from A. vpward sheweth the second fret , note that with a pricke , and set the letter C. vpon it , which maketh a whole Tone from A. Fiftly , diuide the distance from N. to A. into two parts , there the first part sheweth you the first fret , sounding a Diatessaron : in that place also set a pricke , and vpon it the letter F. The sixt fret which is a G. must be placed iust in the middest betwixt F. and H. which maketh a Semidiapente . Seuenthly , diuide the distance from the letter B. to A. in three parts , which being done , measure from the B. vpwards foure times and an halfe , and that wil giue you the third fret , sounding a Semiditone : mark that also with a prick , & set thereon the letter D. then set the fourth fret iust in the middle , the which wil be a perfect ditone : then take one third part from B. to the Bridge , and that third part from B. maketh I. which soundeth Semitonium cum Diapente , then take a third part from the Bridge to C. and that third part maketh E. which soundeth Tonus cum diapente , or an Hexachordo maior . Then take one third part from D. to the Bridge , and that third part from D. maketh L. which soundeth Ditonus cum Diapente . Now take your LVTE , and lay it vpon a Table vpright , and set the Ruler edgewise , betweene the nut and the bridge , and thereby set little marks vpon the necke of the Instrument euen with those on the ruler , because those are the places on which your frets must stand .

Thus haue you the perfect placing of your ten frets , which taketh away that scruple by which many are deceiued , when they say the frets are false . Note here also , wee doe not try the frets , as wee trie the strings : but ( now knowing their places ) size them rightly , for which any kinde of string will serue , I meane whether they be true or false , new or old , onely take heed that you set not a great fret where a small one should be , & so by contrary : for euery fret doth serue as a Magade : therefore doe this ; let the two first frets neerest the head of the Instrument ( being the greatest ) be of the size of your Countertenor , then the third and fourth frets must be of the size of your great Meanes : the fift and sixt frets of the size of your small Meanes : and all the rest sized with Trebles . These rules serue also for Viols , or any other kinde of Instrument whereon frets are tyed .