Hello Alden, thank you very much, interesting stuff that marbled strings... have not heard that before.
What about KF? the equivalent carbon string to a gut one is about 85% of the diameter. If I am not wrong, a low C would be gut 1.40 / KF 1.20 ; originally I was using 1.20 gut for the low g (KF 105 now) so it is not a weird measure. If I eventually try, I will let you know. By the way, a curious thing about KF strings; I once saw a trompette string flat due to friction with the wheel, after some time (more than a year of use). Carbon strings are not eternal either!. Regards, Oscar. 2008/5/6 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > We experimented with various low G trompette strings several years ago. > Here's a little discussion of what we found. > > The difficulty of the low trompette is the need for more mass (which we > generally call weight) per length of string. The vibrating frequency of > the > string is a function of its length, its mass, and its tension. The length > is > fixed, the tension needs to be within a fairly narrow range for the > trompette > to function. The only parameter left to adjust is the mass. > > For more information about how vibrating strings work, check this > Wikipedia > article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrating_string > > There are several ways of getting more mass. We can simply increase the > gut > string diameter, or we can add metal or something else to the string to > make > it heavier. > > Increasing the diameter is problematic. Theoretical strings have no > dimension: they consist of a line that stretches from one end to the > other, > which is what forms all the cool harmonics when it vibrates. The larger > we > make the diameter of the actual string, the stiffer the string becomes and > the > farther the harmonics depart from their ideals. > > If we add metal to the string, the string mass goes up without increasing > the > diameter. > > We tried round-wound strings (smaller versions of the typical petit and > gros > bourdons) for the trompette, and were not pleased - they just didn't sound > right. Flat-wound strings like violin/viola strings might work there, but > we > haven't tried them. > > We experimented with gimped strings, which are plain gut strings with > strands > of metal wound into the interior of the string to increase the mass while > presenting a plain-gut exterior. The first one we tried was very nice, and > I > really liked it. It lasted perhaps 6 months before one of the internal > wires > broke. The next one only lasted about a week, and the next one about the > same, and we gave up on them. They're pretty expensive, so using one a > week > was not reasonable. It's possible we just got a bad batch, and that > others > would work better. > > There are also a special type of gimped string where marble dust (!) is > included in the mix along with the metal wire to increase the density. We > haven't tried these. > > What I liked about the gimped strings is that they were about the same > diameter as the 0.97mm we were using for C/D trompettes, while their mass > was > equivalent to a 1.25mm plain gut string or similar. No change in the dog > was > needed: string, tune, adjust, play. > > Your mileage may vary, of course. > > Alden > >
