McCARTEN LTD.

I have included some reference material which may be usefull or interesting to fellow luthiers, musicians, or lay people as well. I have assembled this information based on research and it is accurate to the limits of time and my ability. This material is provided for reference purposes only.

This page gives some information of use to instrument owners.

This table explains what the moisure content of wood will be after aclimating to a given environment based on the combination of temperature and relative humidity. Find the row with the Relative humidity on the left and follow accross to the column with the Temperature to find the moisture content of the wood.

While looking into a formula for this I found an interesting story regarding the origin of the term Sagitta. Sagitta is the height of an arch at the center of it's chord (the line which connects it's ends). Apparently the term sagitta originates in Ancient Rome where it refers to a hunters bow. So, this is also where the astrological sign Sagittarius comes from. To use this table find the desired radius in either inches or feet in the left hand column. Follow this row to the column for the desired width of the arch in inches. The value found is the sagitta or height of the arc.

This table compares various standards which are used to grade abrasives to each other as well as to several traditional and comercial products. The grits are organized in columns by micron size with progressivly finer grits as you scroll down.