NOTATIO

OCTO wrote:I have never been thinking so deeply about the staff lines, and now I recognise how little I can, thank you @wess @peter and @john.
This just confirms that notation is not composing, and that there should be just engravers, as there are composers.

Indeed, music origination is an art in itself. This does not mean that composers cannot do it well, but perhaps their time is better spent on writing the music

John Ruggero wrote:Thanks, Peter. the round numbers: .1, .125, .150 are easy to remember and deal with.

Wess, it seems that you and Peter are in essential agreement about the approx. .1 spaces for staff lines. Is that correct?
And what do you think of Peter's other settings? I like what I am seeing with these proportions.

LilyPond's default 20pt staff height also uses 0.1 spaces for staff lines. Seems like we have a pretty good consensus on this value.

I am wondering if we could also reach a consensus on some of the other settings: ledger lines, bar lines, stems. There is also one that hasn't come up: thickness of hairpins.

Also, if anyone wants of continue this, should we start a new thread or continue to use this one? It could be retitled "Line Thickness" if the latter.

{I think we can always start a new thread, there is plenty of room! It seems strange to have topic like "Slur tip thickness" - isn't it? But I love it... }

OK, OCTO. I am going to start one called Various Line Settings. Yes, this is definitely a forum for "hard core" engravers, and also those like me who want to learn.

After years of engraving, I've pretty much arrived at similar settings to Peter's. Mine are 0.1 for staff lines, 0.125 for stems, 0.145 for ledger lines and 0.16 for barlines. This is for 6-7 cm. staff height.
@OCTO: no, notation isn't composing, and I agree with the sentiment 'to each his own profession', although a good engraver should, if necessary, be an editor, as well. The great publishing houses of the past always had employees who were expected to perform this function, as well. I'm not saying that there aren't composers who do have a good working knowledge of notational conventions, but both as performer and as engraver I've all too often been confronted by composers' scores which are, at best, confusing and unnecessarily difficult to read and, at worst, simply wrong.