Just in reply to all these emails about cottoning; remember that in order to get a good sound not only cottoning has an influence, but also amount of rosin and the pressure of the strings, or even the quality of string.
If after trying recottoning thousands of times and playing with the right amount of rosin, you still get scratchy sound, specially with new instruments, think about lifting a bit the strings with little pieces of paper in the bridge slots to reduce string pressure. It is normal in new instruments getting the bridge a bit down specially for the first year and even more if you move to dry places.
It took me about a year to get my bridge stabilized in my first instrument, and with the new one it's being a bit of a headache yet, until it reaches equilibrium, which I hope it'll be soon. Additionaly, I had to change one string which got damaged in the core, not being seen outside, and making it sound horrible... According to my experience I would follow that sequence: cotton then rosin then pressure then change for new string.
Regards and good luck! after 23456719998876313 cotton changes you get it right almost 40% of the times!. :-/
2006/7/17, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
Hi Sasha,I've been lurking for a while myself with same questions. I got my gurdy (also a Gotschy) a little under a year ago and have been playing less than I would like due to the strange warbles that sometimes result from my cottoning and tangent adjustments. I'm In Western Massachusetts and am definitely looking for people to play with and learn from.Dan Frank
