I guess I am not going to be much helt here, but I string my Kantele and Gusli with wire only.
>From all my research I have found no instances of the Gusli or Kantele being >strung with anything else. Granted, I am not the be-all or end-all of the >subject, and there is so much I haven't learned on these instruments, but I >have gone pretty deep into the subject and would be surprised if stringing >with gut or non-wire would have been anything close to common practice. The counding surfaces of these instruments are small, the sound cavities are not optimum, and to get performance volume and brightness out of one wire seems to be optimum. Now with the Anglo-Saxon-Germanic Lyre (rote), wire or gut or horsehair. And with the Jouhiko, horsehair was pretty much standard. I build all of these intsruments for folks, and both research and practical application show these results to be good ones (perhaps not the only good ones, but good ones nonetheless) And with the medieval European Psaltery, wire strung. Since the Kantele and Gusli are members of the pslatery family, it is not surprising that a very common theory is that they were wire strung. If fact, I am helping one of my students finish up a 10 string kantele today, and I am going to be starting a replica of the 'nightingale' Gusli from the Novgorod dig. I know it only brings up more questions, and that it doesn't answer any of the questions asked, but maybe this information will be of help anyway Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 1/4/2008 at 10:24 PM Wolodymyr Smishkewych wrote: Cali and Alden, and anyone else: I am trying to calculate strings I need for an instrument (not a HG), and am at a loss. Just for comparison's sake, what is the string tension and usual vibrating length on a HG that you folks make, and what string gauges of gut would you use for stringing chanterelles, if the customer so desired? I think the instrument I have would withstand about the same tension as a HG, so it would certainly help me figure it out. I am using Arto's string calculator for my calculations (http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/wikla/mus/Calcs/wwwscalc.html) but if anyone has any other suggestions they'd be very welcome. The instrument I am stringing up, by the way, can be viewed at: http://www.rolandinstrument.com/ind/index.php?page=8&lang=2 I'll be using Nylgut, which has similar density to regular gut, but is very reliable. Anyone tried it for HGs yet? Thanks so much! Vlad Wolodymyr Smishkewych wolodymyrsmishkewych.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
