At 07:57 AM 4/11/04, you wrote: >Dear Sean, >I used double strand frets on my lutes for years - they do buzz a bit when >they are new and in my experience there is no trick in the tying to stop >that.
Thank you Denys, My problem is that they usually need a change shortly before concerts which tend to arrive in Octobers and Mays. I change them, they work fine and then they don't need changing till the next season. I understand there is a transition period where the buzz will be enevitable and would like to time it better. I was also curious if sanding/filing down the nut-side strand a little to get a better slope would help. The lute I want to switch double strands has a nice low action (MHaycock 6c) and I have to be very precise w/ the gauges. Sometimes I've changed the whole set more than once realizing I had nowhere to go when I got up to the 1st fret. Eventually I just shimmed the nut. When I find a set of frets that work I tend to stay w/ them as long as possible. No changing just one, I'm afraid, since it stands out like a sore fret. I also do a small rotation to get a little more mileage out of each fret. >After playing for a while the double strands bed in - get flattened slightly >at the points where the strings touch - and then they stop buzzing. (It has >to be gut of course to do that). This suggests you let time, rather than a file, take down the nut-side strand, right? Would using a file (carefully) work against me somehow? I would think that any more than 1/4 or 1/3 of a mm need come off in either event--if that. Well, maybe more in the smaller frets--would this weaken the fret tension? I've played some bandoras and orpharions w/ scalloped frets and liked the larger fretting surface. Some folks suggest using a smaller gauge when doubling the strands but I don't understand how this would keep the same fret height. >After that they can last for years. Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful! And in support of Matthias' recent good story of gutstrings, frets always seem to last longer under gut than nylon or nylgut. Maybe it's physics; maybe it's commeraderie. Much obliged, Sean
