Sorry, Mel, my numbers were intended to be in mm, but were off by a decimal point. Your high D at .027" works out to around .70 mm, which about the same as the .74 mm I use. But for the low D I used to use the 1.05 mm, but have gone to a fatter string at Alden's suggestion, and love it. Really rich, full sound. I don't have my gurdy or my notes handy, but I vaguely recall that it's something like 1.15 or 1.22 mm (unless I'm confusing it with the mouche). Alden, if you're out there, what's your recommended low D chanter gut string thickness? Mitch In a message dated 4/28/2011 10:06:35 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Mitch, Yes, we do need some strings attached don't we! The Monarch kit is designed and built on the heavy side so that builders do not have to have the best woodwoking skills or joints to insure that they have a solid HG. It is offered with natural gut chanters of .038" or .97mm for unison g/c tuning & natural gut for unison D/G in .040" or 1.04mm, we also offer the high d" in synthetic (wonder string or badminton string) in .027". This is what I recommend for replacement. Guts are good. mel From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 12:10 PM Subject: Re: [HG-new] wire chanter strings Mel, since my friend's new instrument was one of your kits originally, I'd be curious to hear what strings you'd normally have used (for both the G/C and D/G tunings). That might be useful information for him, since he has to replace the existing strings anyway. (By the way, I don't think your "no strings attached" offer to Sally makes sense, because she won't get any sound from the instrument without strings...) Thanks, Simon and Kevin, for detailing the metal strings you'd use. I might try these myself someday, although I'm pretty happy with using Savarez gut strings on my gurdy. I usually go with Alden's recommendations for gut chanter and trompette strings, which (for D/G) are something like .074 for the high chanter, .095 for the trompette and a really fat .122 or something for the low chanter. I like the big string on the low chanter a lot, since I play low chanter and trompette (without high chanter) a fair amount, and a thinner low chanter tends to get drowned out. Both Roz and I use this string setup for D/G, on my Gotschy Phoenix and on her Boudet luteback. But it's interesting and useful to know that there are some good wound wire string options out there, especially for that low chanter. Mitch Gordon Guerneville, California, US [email protected] writes: Wow! We never cease to learn from our Hurdy-gurdies! We haven't tried steel chanter strings but may in the future. Building gurdies as well as putting together the kits for others is certainly a never ending adventure bringing new people and ideas into our shop. Thank you. Mel & Ann Dorries -- 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. -- 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_ (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_ (http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm) . To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. -- 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.
