> From: David Kilpatrick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 17:23:39 +0100 > To: "Roger E. Blumberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] > Subject: [CITTERN] Re: Andrade Portuguese guitarra > > Roger E. Blumberg wrote: > >> >> >>> From: Frank Nordberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 14:03:19 +0200 >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: [CITTERN] Re: Andrade Portuguese guitarra >>> >>> Roger E. Blumberg wrote: >>>> Humor me if you would. Take a pin or needle, grab it with pliers, >>>> Smell like burning plastic?
>> >>> Oh, we're definitely at a time long before plastic was invented. There's >>> absolutely no doubt about that! >> that's the point, we should be (pre-plastic). >> So what material is Ron's bound with if not plastic? What material is so >> bright white and pliable? > Celluloid, used as a material for furniture and instrument binding from > well before the 1890s. Coloured celluloid, various types of early > setting resin materials, 'compo' plastics - the stuff used for Union > cases, photo frames, cheap jewellery, fake jet, fake ivory, fake pearl etc. > > Plastics are a 19th century invention. However, you would not want to > poke a heated probe into a 19th century celluloid plastic instrument > binding. They are highly unstable and can break into a semi-explosive > flame, just the same way that early cine film (1890s) and photo rollfilm > (ditto) on nitrocellulose bases can do. The gases which are the real > danger with films (sealed in canisters, so nowhere to escape) are not a > problem with instrument bindings but any artificial ivory of the 19th c > needs treating with caution. > > David Well then I must apologize and stand corrected. Thanks for the education -- and the warning regarding it's flammable nature. I'll have to look for more instances of pure solid bright-white celluloid binding on 19th century instruments now. Somehow I don't think I'll find many though. The binding was my first and biggest problem with the instrument's look in the first place. I must say I'm still not convinced yet of it's age, but for now you've knocked some of the wind out of my biggest red flag. We'll see. Thanks Roger To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
