Hi Michael, Glad you got your beloved instrument repaired.
Nylgut is made of a type of nylon that has a very similar density to gut. It also has a different tactile feel from nylon - kind of like some unpolished gut that I used a very long time ago. Gut strings are made from the collagen of sheep intestines if I remember correctly. Gut string making is an involved process and the string makers that supply us are treasures. The process is well explained by master stringmaker Daniel Larsen at: http://gamutstrings.com/string_making.htm Gut sounds fantastic on most lutes. Warm yet bright at the same time. It tends to be expensive and goes out of tune when you need it to be most stable! The result is worth it, though. I love the sound of gut and use it on arpa doppia (triple harp - 108 strings) and various bowed strings in addition to lute/theorbo. Nylgut sounds quite close to gut yet is far more stable, and costs less money. The biggest adjustment is to the color - plastic milk jug white. The other thing is that it really stretches a lot before settling. I put it on my 11 course lute and it sounds very nice. The bass strings you describe are what is called overspun. They have a core of nylon, sometimes silk, filaments that is most commonly wrapped with copper or silver. Aquila makes overspun strings with a Nylgut core. In my opinion they have a sound somewhere between gut and regular overspun. The wood of the peg/pegbox cheek often swells humid weather and shrinks in dry weather. Sometimes you have to fiddle with them - pushing in/pulling out - to get them to work just right. A nice trick for tight pegs is to LIGHTLY rub them with a bar of soap - pure stuff like Ivory is best. If you have a violin shop nearby you can get a tube of Hills Peg Paste, it'll last for years and it isn't too expensive, about $5. It is specially formulated to lubricate friction pegs like violin, viola and lute. There is something called Tourné a Gouche that is used by hurdy gurdy players. Basically it is tuning wrench that slips over the peg head making it easier to tune them if they are close together. I think www.hurdygurdy.com might make them, but I don't know how much they cost. All the best, Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 6:37 PM Subject: RE: Mike Godfrey - HEY!! I got my 10 Course back! > Hey, I got my 10-course lute back with the fixed fracture in the soundboard! > > Okay, I've forgotten what a joyless exercise it is to tune a 10-course lute. > My fingers already hurt. Plus, the majority of my strings are nylon (pretty > sound...). > > I'm not up on all the string types, though. Everyone praises nylgut? Is > that part animal / part plastic? The lower strings on my lute are the > heavier metal/cable type. > > The nylon is buzzy at times. That stinks. BUT...most importantly, my lute > is probably under one thousand pounds of pressure right now, having been > tuned, and the slight fracture isn't showing at all! > > That makes me happy. > > The pegs are holding well...thank you larry brown...and at times, they are > so freakin tight, it really does cause finger pain to tune it. It's the > "closeness" of the pegs that make it hard to tune everything...one string > gets as pitch perfect as I can make it, and the next peg I go to turn, my > knuckle knocks the last peg. Plus, I have one of those pitch pipes...not > the digital tuners, so when I'm blowing a G, I also hear F# and A flat. > Reminiscent of Mr. Rogers' choo-choo train. This is distracting to the > point of screamed obscenity, and invariably, the pitch pipe is dropped from > my mouth and lost in the sofa...or one of my dogs try to run with it. > > It literally has been ages since I played, so I was sort of at a loss. > > All in all, I am happy. I DO REALLY need new strings. The nylon has to go. > Are "gut" strings from an animal? If so, what kind of animal? > > Also, the man that fixed my lute was amazed that it was built in 1983. He > could see Larry Brown's signature inside with the date. You kind of have to > peer through the rosette. Given it's good physical condition, and the fact > that it is almost 22 years old, he said it should last forever unless I do > something really stupid. > > Again, thanks everyone for the support and help here! I'm going to go busy > myself for the next 9 hours trying to get it back into tune. > > Michael Godfrey > > > >
