Found the following Northern Renaissance string packets in my guittar case:
At 415: 6th course: 22thou Brass medium-twist 2-stranded wire rope 5th course: 18 thou Brass medium-twist 2-stranded wire rope 4th: 19 thou rose brass plain 3rd: 14 thou Rose brass plain Don't have records of first and second courses. I remember spending about 100 pounds trying out different strings from NRI, and came to the conclusion that the cheapest ones sounded best: brass. The silk basses were expensive and utterly useless. With watch-key tuning it is only possible to stretch the string a short distance. The silk would never settle within this distance. The gut cores didn't sound good. The brass rings out beautifully. One further problem is the loops. NRI wouldn't make the loops big enough to thread the pin through to secure the string at the foot of the guitar. I had to widen the loops, but this weakened the string and they broke. NRI were unsympathetic. Ephraim didn't believe me that the loops he made were too small, and argued that there must be something wrong with my instrument. All the pins are original and in good condition. He sent me a second set, but again the loops were too small - suitable maybe for a 17th-century cittern, but not an 18th-century guittar. I sent them back. In a phone discussion he asked me to send my instrument to his house. No way. I finally managed to get a set from him with big enough loops - and the they worked really well. However, I had such a negative experience with Segerman that I refuse to order from him again. I saught out a harpsichord maker in Edinburgh who gives me quality strings with made-to-measure loops. I really urge those of you who have original guittars to buy twisted brass basses, even from NRI (ask for huge loops!), as it does make a HUGE diference over modern alternatives. And they last. I've had the present strings on for four years and they still sound great! Rob To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
