Medieval Temperament

My newest clavichord, by Owen Daly of Salem Oregon after the Wroclaw
Manuscript instructions c. 1470, is quadruple fretted and tuned in
pure fifths in the most-cadenced-on keys, and in medieval music that
cadences on pure fifths, rather than chords, it tingles the spine.

Just how many pure fifths is that, you ask?

Perhaps someone here would enjoy figuring it out. It is the not
Pythagorean tuning. The range is a gamut, from G to f''; the
directions in the manuscript, as I understand them, are as follows:

Start with G; place the fret for A 1/9 of the distance in.
place the fret for G# 1/19 of the distance in
and the fret for B flat 3/19 of the distance in.

Next course, place string for B a comfortable distance;
Fret for c is 1/16 in from there
fret for c# is 1/9 of distance from B
fret for d is 1/9 of the distance from the fret for c

next course place string for d# a comfortable distance:
fret for e is 1/16 of the distance from d#
fret for f is 1/9 of the distance from d#
fret for f#, well, the manuscript apparently says it is 1/16 of the
distance from e, which is clearly wrong, John Koster says it should
be 1/10 of the distance from e. I am not sure what the builder did

And start over at g.

I tune it by setting a pure 5th from c up to g and a pure fifth from
c down to f, then putting in octaves. There are 9 string pairs.

You will note that there are no fretting conflicts in major thirds
but one fourth of the minor thirds are unplayable together. The only
unplayable minor third that in practice causes a lot of trouble in
music of the period is the one from g to b flat -- the other common
ones are on different courses.

Judy
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