I'd say you have a gut string with a flaw in the middle. When I find a string like that, I can usually look at it under a magnifying glass and see where the twist rate changed or there was a small knot in one of the strands that was there and got ground out in finish polishing.. I run in to that more often than you would expect, not really common, but not uncommon - I usually just use that string on a harp or a lyre where it is just a single note, or on a drone on some obscure thing I am building at the time.
Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 6/4/2009 at 7:39 PM Arle wrote: >Got a new problem I've never encountered before that maybe has an easy >fix I'm missing. > >Today I broke my low chanterelle on my C/G instrument. It was a metal >wound viola string from Croatia that had held up remarkably well and >had a beautiful trombone like tone. It was tuned an octave lower than >the standard chanterelles (i.e., the open string is in unison with the >mouche). So I rummaged through my kit and found that I don't have a >replacement any more. I thought I did but maybe gave it to someone. >Ahh, but what's this? A black gut string that looks like it might be >the right gauge. > >So I put this black gut string on (it was a spare for my tekerőlant). >Got the pressure right without cotton (using a slip of paper to check >the pressure) and started working with it. Took a bunch of cotton to >sound right compared to the old metal string, but tekerő strings often >do take a lot of cotton. But now the problem is that the upper sixth >of the string sounds very sharp, so sharp I can't turn the tangents >back far enough in some cases to get it to sound right. So I play >around and pop the nut out and slide it as far forward as the thing >can possibly go. No dice. It helps a little, but I still cannot get >the lower string to have a decent tangent distribution in that range >and two of them can't be brought into tune at all because they are >colliding with the keys below them. > >I've fiddled with the cotton quite a bit and can't seem to get it to >make an impact there. The tone is absolutely beautiful, so it's not >the shimming. I just can't get this to go in tune in that region at >all. Maybe there is something obvious that I'm missing, but this >string just doesn't work like the strings I'm used to on this >instrument. > >(I also had a lot of fun because my two-year old daughter decided to >help me play tonight and, while my back was turned, managed to wipe >her hands on the wheel, instantly killing two spots of wheel death. >This is the first time she's actually touched the wheel surface, >probably because every other time she's tried I've redirected her >energies. Normally I can deal with that sort of thing without the need >for drastic measures, but the grease from her hands was stubborn and I >had to strip the wheel and rebuild the rosin coat from the ground up. >Uggh.) > >So it's one of those gurdy days. Anyone care to take a stab at what >might make the low chanterelle behave better? > >-Arle > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
