2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

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MyQuasiBaroqueGuitar

YearsagoIbecameinterestedintheBaroqueguitar.Mostofall,Iwantedtoplay
Baroqueguitarmusic"faithfully".Notnecessarilyasfaithfullyaspossiblethatwould
requirearealBaroqueguitar,oratleastareproduction.Oneproblemwiththatisthe
expense.

Asbigasthatproblemis,forme,personally,thereisanevenbiggerone:theneedto
reorientthehandstonewfretandstringspacingseverytimeIswitchbackandforth
betweenthemodernandtheBaroqueguitar.Itipmyhattothosewhointrepidlytake
onthatchallenge,but...notme,brother!

Tobereasonablyfaithful,allyouwouldneedisdoubled4thand5thstrings.Thenyou
canaddthecharacteristicBaroqueguitarhighoctavestothosepairs.Italways
seemedlikeitwouldbeaverysimplethingtoaddtwoextrastringtunersonthehead
oftheguitarandfileacoupleofextraslotsinthenut.Thestumperwashowtodrill
twoextraholesthroughthebridgefortheaddedstrings.

Afteryearsofcontemplation,ithitmeallatonceIdidn'thavetodrillholesinthe
bridge.Icouldsimplyfeedtwostringsthroughthesameholeandseparatethemwith
somekindofaspacerbehindthesaddle.Thispresumes,ofcourse,thatthetwo
stringswillfitthroughonehole.Onmyfirstguitar,aYamahaG50A,theydowith
noproblem.Iwasoffandrunning.

Iwenttoaninstrumentrepairshopandtheysoldmeacoupleofusedsteelstring
typetunersforabuck.Icutsomelittlepiecesofpapertothesizeandshapeofthe
tunersandslidthesearoundontheundersideoftheheaduntilIfoundgoodpositions
forthem.Thesepositionsweremarked.Acoupleholesweredrilledforthetuning
barrelsandthemachineswereattachedwithlittlescrews.

Slotswerefiledintothenutnexttotheslotsforthe4thand5thstringsusingmy
Revlonnailfile.Itookaguessattheproperseparation.Myslotsare2millimeters
apart(centertocenter)andworkfine.Ifoundsomesmallscrewstoserveasthe
spacersdownatthebridge.Keepinmindthattheydonotactuallyscrewintothe
wood.

AtthispointImayhaveyelled,"Voila!"IfIdid,itwasslightlypremature.Thenext
headachewasfindingtherightstrings.Todoublethe4thstringwithahighoctave,I
plannedtousea1ststringtuneddownasteptoD.Likewise,todoublethe5thstring,
Iplannedtousea2ndstringtuneddowntoA.Withtheguitarstrungthisway,it
didn'ttakelongtorealizethattherewassimplytoomuchtotaltensiononthe4thand
5thcourses.Iwasn'tworriedabouttheinstrument,whichisquiterobust,butmy
fingerswouldsoonachepressingtwostringsatoncerequiringjustabouttwicethe
accustomedpressure.

Tryingtofindtheproperstringsdraggedmeintothemorassluteplayerscall"string
calculation".Thisdeservesawholearticleinitself.(Seemywebpageonthe
sensiblestringmeasure.)Inanutshell,letmesaythecurrentsituationisacomplete
mess.Firstofall,classicalguitarstringsaresoldinsetsnotinarangeofgaugeslike
steelstrings.Secondofall,eveniftheyweresoldinarangeofgauges,thegauge,or
stringdiameter,isnotausefulmeasurement.

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2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

Giventhescalelengthofyourguitar,thedesirednoteandthedesiredtension,you
cancalculatethemassperlengthofthestringyouneed.Thisisthedefining
characteristicofastringregardlessofcomposition.Apracticalunitwouldbe"grams
permeter".Unfortunately,stringmanufacturersdonotsupplythisbitofinformation.

Usinghighandlowtensionclassicalguitarstrings,plussomethinlutestrings,I
riggedupsomethingthatworkedprettywell.Eventhenthetensionwasabitmuch
formyhandsoIloweredthewholethingahalfstep.I'msurewhenafewmore
peopleconvertmodernguitarstoquasiBaroqueguitars,acombinationofcareful
stringcalculationsandsometrialanderrorwillyieldageneralsolutiontothis
problem.

ThisquasiBaroqueguitarworksverywell.Ihaveuseditintwoofthemostimportant
Baroqueguitartunings.Bothhaveatreble/basspairingonthe4thcourse.The
tuningsdifferinthatonealsohasatreble/basspaironthe5thcourse,whiletheother
hastreble/treble.GasparSanzsupposedlyusednobassesoneitherthe4thor5th
course,soyoucouldsimplyuseamodern,singlestrungguitarwithtrebleAandD
stringsonthebottom.WasGasparnuts???Hasanybodyeverhadsatisfyingresults
playinghismusicwithoutbasses?I'malwayswaitingforsomebodytotakeacloser
examinationofwhathewroteandannounce,"Hey,we'vebeenmisinterpreting!That's
notwhatSanzmeant!"

ThegoalofnothavingtoreorientgoingfromthemoderntotheBaroqueguitarwas
almostmet.Oneslightdifferenceinfeelisthat,withthedoubledstrings,youhaveto
bealittlemorecarefulwithyourrighthandfingerstrokes.It'seasiertohitan
adjacentstringbyaccident.Butthisproblemissurmountableanddoingsomayjust
benefityourtechniqueonthemodernguitar.

Iwonderedwhetherthetuningmachinesfortheaddedstringscouldbeimproved
upon.Ihadaviolapeginstalledbetweentheslotsofthehead.Afterusingitawhile,
Ifoundadvantagesanddisadvantages.Theviolapegislighter,simplerandmaintains
thesymmetryofthehead.Itisjustmore"intune"withthespiritofaBaroqueguitar.
Ontheotherhand,it'smucheasiertofinetunewiththemachinetuners.Theviola
pegwasaddedasanexperiment,butsinceitwasthereIputitinservicedoublingthe
3rdstringforevenmoreauthenticity.

Thepicturesbelowshowthemodifiedhead,frontandback,andtheunmodified
bridgewithdoublestringing.

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2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

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2017525 QuasiBaroqueguitarconversionLudovicoRoncalli.

Hereisaquicksummaryoftheideaspresentedabove.Youcanverysimplymodifya
modernguitarintoaquasiBaroqueguitarwithdoubled4thand5thstrings.Useone
ofyouroldstudentmodelguitars.Themodificationsrequiredare:steelstringtuning
machinesorviolapegs,extraslotsinthenut,andspacerscrewsbehindthesaddle.
Findingtherightstringsisaproblem,butyoucancomeupwithsomethingifyou
haveafewthinlutestringstoexperimentwith.

Thisleavesuswiththefinalquestion:whattoplay?CertainlynotBaroqueguitar
musictranscribedforthemodernguitarthatwouldbeabsurd.Thereare
dissertationsthatincludetranscriptionsofBaroqueguitartablatureintomusic
notation,butmanyoftheseareuselesstotheperformersincetheynotatethehigh
octaveofthe4thand/or5thcourse.AnexceptiontothisisRichardPinnell'sworkon
FrancescoCorbettawhichincludesallofhismusicwrittensothat,ifyoureadas
younormallywouldforamodernguitar,yourfingersgototherightplaces.Youcan
buyfacsimileeditionsoftheBaroqueguitarists,buttheproblemthereisthewidely
varyingtypesoftablature,andoftenbigproblemswithlegibility.Itipmyhattothose
whotakeonthatmonster,but,onceagain...notme,brother!

Myownsolutionwastowriteatablatureprogramformycomputer.SincethenIhave
seeninexpensivetablatureprogramsadvertised.Idon'tknowhoweasytheyareto
useandwhethertheyaresmartenoughtoconvertfromfretletterstofretnumbers,
orfromupsidedowntorightsideuptablature.Still,Isuspectthisisthewaytogo
forthetimebeing.

BeforethegloriousdayarriveswhenBaroqueguitarismadeaccessibletothe
yearningmassesweneedonlythreesimple,logicalthings:

1.Theguitarworldneedstoagreeonastandardized,easytoread,self
contained,moderntablature.(Seemywebpage.)

2.WeneedpublisherstoputoutBaroqueguitareditionsfaithfullytranslated
intothismoderntablature.

3.Andweneedstringmakerstosellstringsinarangeofmassperlength.

HereisaGavottebyLudovicoRoncallifaithfullytranslatedintoamoderntablature.
ItcorrespondstothetablaturefacsimileshowninFrederickNoad'sBaroqueGuitar
anthology,page8.ComparethesetablatureswithNoad'stranscriptionformodern
guitaronpage48ofthebook.Thetranscriptionmakesaverynicepieceforour
classicalguitar.ItalsoconciselyshowsupthemaindifferencesbetweenBaroque
guitarmusicandwhatourmodernearshavebecomeusedto.Roncalli'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||.||.||.||.|||||.|
____________________________________________________________________
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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
Baroqueguitar.Itrequiresdrillingaholethroughthebridge,butnoadditionaltuners.
(GuitarReview49,page24.)

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