David, there is a possibility of improving your situation. First you have to make sure you know which way the string is twisted (clockwise or counter). A strong magnifying glass might be of help. Next you need to get one end of the string free, either the bridge end or the peg end. Firmly holding the string, give it one or two turns in the direction of the twist. Twist as much as possible without a distortion to the shape of the string. Do not let the string to bulk on itself. Fix the end of the string back where it belongs and raise the pitch. Of course make sure the string does not untwist, and keep it somewhat taut while holding.
This simple technique might be enough to increase the string's elasticity and make it more agreeable to finger pressure. There is no difficulty to this, just some amount of common sense, and never turn against the string's twist, as if the string is not glued well together, it could be damaged. You could practice on a piece of fret gut, to get a feel to it. Some strings can take quite a bit of twist and actually be improved by this. alexander r. On Tue, 17 Dec 2013 17:59:52 -0800 "David Smith" <d...@dolcesfogato.com> wrote: > I have an 11 course lute where the 11^th course seems to be very > sensitive and difficult to get in tune. It is gut. No, I do not want to > use copper or silver wrapped strings. > > Does this make sense to anyone or is it just noise? I am looking to see > if changing the string will have an effect on tunability and whether it > indicates a low or high tension change would be good. > > > Thanks for listening to the ramblings and any guidance you can provide. > These are expensive strings (Gut) so just experimenting is a bit > spendy. > > Regards > > David > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
