LuteFrets is an extremely simple application designed primarily to calculate the placement of gut frets on a lute, using either of two different algorithms: the "equal temperament" spacing used on most modern instruments, and the fairly complex method described by John Playford in his son's book A Varietie of Lute Lessons (1605).

Dowland's method, while not particularly suited to playing in odd keys, sounds much more pleasant than modern fret placement when used to play the lute repertoire of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The preferences dialog (shown at left) permits easy configuration of the results: which algorithm to use, and whether to display the values as measured from the nut or from the bridge. The .PRC file is 8224 bytes in size.

Caveat: While "modern" spacing may be used to fret other instruments, be aware that this program only calculates the first twelve frets. (Further frets may be calculated by entering half the actual string value, and then marking those distances from the halfway point rather than from the nut.)

Download LuteFrets.zip - 5K (10K unzipped)

Given that the intersection of the set of lutenists and the set of PalmOS PDA users can probably be counted on one hand, I'd really be interested in getting an email from anyone who actually finds this program useful.