For the first string I have used Gamut, Aquila, Sofracob and Kuerschner. I'm using 0.38 to 0.42 on four kinds of renaissance lutes, archlute and baroque guitar. I play a lot.
The warmest in sound is Gamut, but they fray quickest. They don't break quickly though. One to two weeks survival before I have to replace because of dull sound caused by fraying beyond clipping. If fraying stays within reason they will last up to one month. Aquila comes a close second in warm sound, but also frayes quickly. Does break more quickly than Gamut. I haven't quite decided what I think of these strings yet. Mimmo kindly send me two kinds (a little varnished 0.38 and plain gut 0.40) and they are good, but I'm still testing. Sofracob (cheapest, indeed) is not too sharp in sound, but definitely not as warm as Gamut. Doesn't fray that much, but can break quite suddenly. Lasts one or two weeks if played a lot. Sometimes I'm lucky and they last quite a bit longer, up to a month. Kuerschner is amazing. Perhaps there's lots of glue or something in these strings, they have quite a different colour from the other brands as well. They sound quite sharp, but given some practice I can get a warm enough sound out of them anyway. They don't fray. They get eaten away a bit where my fingers pluck them, and where the frets bite into them, but they don't fray. They last ages, a month without any decay, no problem. I've had one on my 10-course for two months before it broke, then I could shift it over and it's still there. In this whole period (two-and-a-half months by now!) I played it at least one hour a day. Then suddenly they break, and at unsuspected places, not where they are eaten away by fingers or frets. A mystery. I tend to prefer Gamut on my little a'-lute for early 16th century Italian solo music: nice warm sound till the string gets dull by fraying. Replace just before the concert, but practice with a frayed string. The short string length benefits from the more flexible Gamut. Kuerschner is a bit too stiff. All purpose 8-course gets a cheap Sofracob. It does the job without too much trouble. Just have to keep an eye on it to check if it's still all-right for the concert. Baroque guitar gets a Sofracob: so much rasquado I'm not going to bother about fraying anyway. Archlute has a Kuerschner, especially when it's tuned to 440 and needs a 0.38. A little sharp in sound doesn't hurt in continuo playing, and a reliable string is good when I'm playing in an ensemble or orchestra. Conclusion: any of these instruments a Gamut when playing solo and sound quality matters. Sofracob when it's not so critical and Kuerschner when I need a long lasting heavy duty string without too much consideration for sound quality. Of course, this is a generalisation and I apologise to all the other string makers out there who make even better products. I've heard Barocco is the best, no doubt true. Good luck! David ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Shepherd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 11:12 AM Subject: gut treble strings > Calling all you gut string players out there: > > With all the discussion of gut strings recently on the list and > listening to Jacob Heringman's magnificent Siena Lute Book CD, I've been > tempted (after a gap of about 12 years) to return to all-gut stringing. > So my question is: > > Who manufactures the best (strongest, truest) gut trebles? > > I'm finding Sofracob very good for thicker strings (2nd course down) but > haven't any thinner ones to try at the moment. The nice thing about the > Sofracob strings is if you run them through your fingers they are really > smooth - no lumps and bumps - and they are true on the instrument. They > are also cheap - with a 3m length you get three strings out of a length. > > Please reply off list if you want to say anything libellous about any of > the manufacturers, otherwise please keep it on the list so everyone can > benefit from your experience. > > Thanks, > > Martin > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
