James, > It seems ironic for people who think gut has the best sound, to sacrifice > that sound on the chanterelle, where it probably has the most noticeable > effect... It almost makes more sense (unless you can afford to buy all gut strings) > to have nylgut or nylon (which can literally last years) on every course but > the 1st and 2nd; and to use gut on those strings, where the melody is most > often found. Just an idea...
A good idea, but I think an impractical one for some lutes. And I confess that I've not tested gut yet for breaking pitch. With all due respect for the empiricals, I believe that gut and nylgut - having a very similar density - use the same tension for the pitch. But that gut has less "tensile strength" so can't maintain the same pitch without breaking as can nylgut. And I know, from experience, that nylon will give you about a half to full tone higher on the chanterelle without breaking. So the problem of the lute is the chanterelle (there is a 16th C. manuscript that tells of the tuning, tune the chanterelle until it breaks, then tune a bit lower - an expensive approach as one has to replace the broken chanterelle). The range of the lute is defined by the vibrating length, and the material of the chanterelle. But as it has a fixed length across the nut it is also defined by the lower courses. I'll give up for the night here, leaving the question open on purpose. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
