Delete/rename/move/clarify the "Open" column of "String Data"

Rather than removing this, it should get better explained, better named. Maybe even just as a tooltip ( shown when hovering over it) "Drone strings" or "Additional unfretted strings" or some such.
OTHO I don't really get why people check that box if not understanding what it is about. "If you don't know what this is, keep your hands off, leave it at the default"

Maybe it could be a hidden column which has a button to unhide it. I did use it once for Open-G guitar tuning since I thought it was required but it appeared to be broken as adding fret numbers to a TAB didn't change the pitch. Now I know why: it's not broken but is for very particular stringed instruments.

Would changing "Open" to "Diapason" help?

It has been a mystery to me for several years but now that I understand its purpose I would say that the whole option is just too specialist to be needed on the default tuning view and needs to be moved to an "advanced" view. Changing its name won't bring any clarity to regular guitar players.

Maybe there is a collective term for lutes etc. that could be used as a button label to view this open strings section.

Yes, it is a specialist's option, or you're not a specialist, just keep your hands off of it.

But guitarists don't know that it's a non-guitar option to "keep their hands off" until they try to use it, at which point, unless they have lute knowledge, it is a mysterious, broken option that can be ignored.

As said, if you don't know what it is, just keep your hands off. It is not on by default for any guitar, and if the only thing you want to do is to change a string's tuning, do just than and nothing else, really simple.
And if you change that setting and don't get the desired results, think what you changed last and revert that change. Also quite simple.
Or read the handbook (which does explains this, quite a novel idea to many, but also very helpful at times ;-)

Many workarounds mentioned meanwhile ;-)

It sneaks in under the guise of being obvious and therefore invites a hands on approach. It doesn't need a workaround, (since it's not broken), it just needs less prominence in the user interface.

I do usually read the handbook, (this is an obvious approach to my old-fashioned way of thinking so in this respect I am not amongst the many that you refer to), but since I had already concluded that it was a broken option then I simply ignored it.

As a guitaris you indeed can ignore it. Whether you ignore it because you think it to be broken, of for other reasons really doesn't matter ;-)
The String tuning dialog is already not too obvious to fine, and a more advanced tool, hiding a part of that dialog even more ain't gonna help more than it'd harm.

Fair enough. I would therefore agree with cadiz1's logic and simply remove this confusing feature altogether.

Removing a feature just because some users are incapable of understanding its purpose? C'mon...

It's redundant.

No, it isn't. It has a purpose, for those additional lute strings. Making those non-open would give the wrong impression you could use and non-0 fingering for them

See comment at start by cadiz1 as to why it's redundant.

Renaming it to "Drone" might be an option.

Maybe add a tooltip explaining what it is for?

I’m not a string instrumentist, but I don’t get it at all from e.g. the commit message…

A tooltip is what I brought up in my first comment...

Does it makes sense for all lute/oud/theorbo strings to have this option? Don't the first strings operate just like a guitar, i.e. frets are played?

Those "open" strings on lutes etc. don't have frets, that's the whole point. You can use them at their tuning, one pitch, nothing more

I understand that. My question was whether this can apply to all lute etc. strings or whether it starts at a certain string number. You answered a question which I did not ask. I asked about the first strings not the open strings.

Lutes have non-open strings (just like guitars), but some lutes adddtionaly have these open strings

https://twitter.com/sebastropolis/status/1366776588667412483

https://twitter.com/sebastropolis/status/1368955582439436288

So… this is probably… “Fretless”? Short enough for a table column header, at least in English. Translators will be overjoyed.

Or "Unfretted", just to differntiate from e.g. a "Fretless Bass"

The first strings on a lute are not open but the open string dialogue gives tick boxes for these non-open strings thus presenting the option for some sort of impossible (virtual?) lute.

That is true and a quite common thing with lute instruments.
There are even some guitars that could profit from this option (as the Wiener Schrammerl guitar, that has some open/free/not gripped (ungegriffen) strings). Open is the correct terminology for lute instruments.

1. I think it would be not at all senseful to delete this option, as it is essential to know, which strings can be gripped and which not!
2. As open has another meaning in guitar terminology (open tunings), it probably could be better to use the word diapason or bourdon, that is used for strings that don't pass the fretboard and therefore cannot be gripped.
3. It would probably be possible to restrict this feature for some lutes only, but I think it is a much better thing to have it as flexible as it is now. And if the guitar world doesn't need this feature, it could be a possible solution to block it for these instruments - but I'm not sure if that really is needed and if it is worth the time and energy to program it.

Diapason seems to be the accepted term on lute websites.

That’d also freak out everyone else, it means tuning fork in french.

What’s wrong with unfretted? Generic enough for everyone to understand yet technically correct enough. Plus a tooltip.

If the term works, it would be no problem for me, but it sounds a little bit like fretless to me, which means another thing ... And btw - the strings aren't unfretted; I have never seen any fretted string ;-).

Is there no equivalent to the German word ungegriffen? Ungripped or something like that, as this is, what open means in this context. I looked it up in the book "Die Laute in Europa - The lute in Europe", that gives a really good overview on the various and uncountable types of lute instruments.
There it is said: the strings cannot be fingered. Would unfingered/free be an alternative, or free basses?
But I'm sure, there are some instruments that use free strings not only in the bass register - the Angelique is such a harplike instrument.
Or another idea : How about reverting the whole thing and per default set strings to playing strings (jouer in French)?

BTW - a tooltip is for sure a good idea!

I initiially proposed "unfretted", but you're right, it is not about the string but about the fretboard, so doesn't match here.
The word "free" seems too generic and too open to interpretation, but I like "unfingered". Also implies to keep your fingers off if you don't know what it is ;-)

"Unfingered" sounds a good solution: cryptic enough to ensure guitarists leave well alone ;-) and hopefully clear enough for lute players.

Corresponding comment added to Transifex for the 2 affected strings

GuitarPro has been around for decades -- this is what they do. Dorico does something similar (currently working on adding capos). No need to think about this - just copy it.

Well, "Banjo drone" just doesn't cut it, not for Lutes. Also those are fretted apparently, they just don't start at the common nut.

And “just copy it” tends to lead to lawsuits, especially if Apple is involved…

@Jojo-Schmitz you could of course put the proper Lute term, with an explanation it applies to Lute only, into the tooltip, since that can hold enough text to fully explain things ☺

Nah, no copyright issue here, not when just taking the same naming for things. But see above, it doesn't make sense here anyway.
And it does not apply to lutes only, just mainly.
But yes, an additional tooltip would be nice.

Why would you use "Banjo Drone" on a Lute?

I won't, but that's what you proposed, as Guitar Pro does that.
Or did you mean that "Open G"? It again has "Open" which is what started this discussion...

A search on the internet (startpage.com) using the terms "unstopped" "string" and "Guitar" revealed that Unstopped is commonly used to describe the harp strings on a harp guitar. As these are akin to the diapasons on a lute, this is surely a term worth considering.

OK, "Unstopped" is a possible candidate too. Doesn't seem as clear as "Unfingered" though

“Unfingered” sounds like “do not play, it just resonates with” to me though… “unstopped” is slightly less ambiguous-potential, I believe.

Deleted.

Isn't stopped/unstopped something to do with organ pipes?
How about "Open Lute Strings"?

Way too long and also this is not restricted to Lutes

Just use "Lute" instead of "Open" with a tooltip to explain it and to show that it also applies to other instruments. Example instruments could be listed in the tooltip. And, as you pointed out earlier, users could check the handbook for clarification.

This would invite lute (etc.) players to realise it's something for them and guitarists would know to steer clear.

Again: it is not just Lute, and even there only some strings on some Lutes

Hence "etc." and "tooltip" and "handbook". A tooltip is exactly that: a tip to give the user an idea what a tool is for. Alternatively you could have a huge, red animated arrow which directed the user to the appropriate section of the handbook whilst playing a suitable trumpet fanfare.

As for, "only some strings", then why does the dialogue already offer it on all strings?

Just checked out MLutz's suggestion of "bourdon" and it looks nigh on perfect.

Nope. Bourdons come in 2 flavors, with and without frets.

It's also another term for drone.
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.2011080309552…

BOURDON

A drone. A pipe or string producing a constant pitch. It is analogous to the English "burden", used to describe the lowest drone on the hurdy-gurdy and the low-pitched, free vibrating strings of the larger lutes such as the theorbo and bowed instruments such as the lira da braccio; also the lowest partial ("hum note") of tower bells.

https://www.freemusicdictionary.com/definition/bourdon/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)
See the section "Parts of a musical instrument".

Drone imho doesn't fitfor this case, as it is used in a more musical sense: long ringing bass notes. The bass strings of a lute also play melodies, like with harps. Bourdon would be quite good also for most lute instruments, but this term also means a bass string. But there are also lute instruments, like the Angelique, that not only have the bass strings as open strings.
So I would vote for unfingered, unstopped or open ...

BTW; this text and the corresponding entry in string data is usefull only for strings that are getting plucked (but unfingered, so at exactly the pitch of that string), so not for bourdons or drones, which only resonate but are never played directly, and as such don't show in tablature nor a normal staff.

How can a wrong naming lead to a crash? How could fix that naming fix that crash?
In short: this'd be a diffrent issue

Called "Always open" in 4.0 Alpha 2