Hi Neil,
After watching your video, I realized that I had somehow understood
you to be talking about pitches an octave lower than what you are
actually doing. You're nowhere near the low pitch where the
oscillation of the string becomes uncontrollable with a single point
of contact (like a tangent). One of my chanterelles is pitched only a
fourth above yours and I've actually found it the easiest one to
control of the bunch. It's using a metal viola string from Croatia (I
don't have the label or remember the brand anymore). I love the
mellow, almost trombone-like sound you can get out of strings in that
range when played in the upper octave. Very beautiful. Your instrument
sounds great. I especially like the sound when all three are engaged.
I think I'm going to have to try replacing one of my gut high
chanterelles with a fine metal one pitches an octave higher to get
something like what you did.
-Arle
