>From an encyclopedia: "History of wire production Wire was originally made by beating the metal out into plates, which were then cut into continuous strips, and afterwards rounded by beating. The art of wire-drawing does not appear to have been known until the 14th century, and it was not introduced into England before the second half of the 17th century. ...." RT ______________ Roman M. Turovsky http://polyhymnion.org/swv
> Wire strings were not "deemed an implausibility" on early harps - it was > used for centuries. The Irish had developed the technique of > wire-drawing which not only gave them magnificent-sounding harps (as > evidenced by the rapt verbal descriptions of their contemporaries) but > also allowed for the finely-wrought metal work on early Celtic jewelry > and other historical treasures. If you read the written accounts of > the Medieval Irish harpers (who travelled all over the continent) both > they and their instruments seem to have been king of the mountain. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
