Hmm, now we seem to be getting somewhere. Most of the breakage I've  
experienced has been at the peg, which dovetails with what you're saying, Neil, 
 
as I have indeed been threading the entire string, wrapping and all, into the 
 peg. Sounds like unwinding the wrapping, tying it off and glueing it down 
will  solve this. 
 
I'm a little concerned by your question about G vs. C strings, tho. Let's  
double check this. This is on a D/G gurdy, and it's for a drone that's tuned 
an  octave below the trompette. What cello string would I use there, G or 
C? Perhaps  I've been confused about the petit bourdon vs gros bourdon 
terminology (is a  gros bourdon supposed to be two octaves below the 
trompette?), 
in which case I  only have a petit bourdon. 
 
Thanks loads,
Mitch Gordon
 
 
[email protected] writes:

Are you  sure it's the G ? I use cello G for the d drone and for the
octave down, I  use cello C . My string of choice is Pirastro Aricore
or a slightly nicer  string for twice the cost , Pirastro Obligato.

You are asking for  trouble if you try to thread the entire thickness
of the string round a  tuning peg. They are not designed to take the
bending and work against  themselves resulting in breakage. You need to
strip off the outer winding  which reveals the inner winding making it
much more flexible.

To  stop the winding unravelling, before you strip the outer, put a
spot of  superglue where you intend to stop stripping the outer - just
after the  peg. Once you have stripped it back to the glue spot, tie
the outer with a  simple half hitch and add another spot of superglue.

Neil

On Jan  13, 4:57 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> I've been using a Pro Arte  4/4 silver (perlon core) G cello string for 
the  
> low D drone on  my D/G, and I love the sound, but these bloody things 
keep  
>  unraveling and breaking on me. In particular they seem to unravel up at 
the  
> tuning peg. You have to cut the string to use it in a gurdy,  gurdies 
being  
> shorter than cellos, and the cut end is just  waiting for an opportunity 
to  
> unwind, and then tear itself out  of the tuning peg.
>
> Is there either a more reliable low D drone  string that some of you  can
> recommend, or is there a way to  stabilize the cut end of the string so 
it  
> doesn't  unwind?
>
> Mitch Gordon
> Guerneville, California,  US

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