Yes, gimped are expensive. But, they are nice strings. They are true. I caution you to order them starting at the 7th course, not any higher than the 6th. The reason for this is when fingering them (left had) with an octave, the intonation often is a bit off. This is not because of trueness, but due the stiffness with the wire. This particular wire woven into the gut makes the string more rigid, and when vibrating, it is as though the string is shorter, because it does not quite vibrate for the entire length of the string.
So, for basses deeper than the 6th course, they are fantastic, as they are true, and fingering the 7th course & lower is infrequent enough that intonation is not a problem. No, they are not false, as loaded strings are. They agree perfectly with plain gut octaves, in the open string. That is why I always start with the 7th course when using gimped. Gor the 6th and 5th course, Pistoys work, as they agree perfectly with their ocataves. Incidentally, I do not know how they would work with nylgut octaves. When one mixes materials within a course, the results are not always the best. ed At 07:48 PM 4/18/2005 +0900, Ed Durbrow wrote: >Ed and Eric, >I know the gimped strings sound great. I heard one on Kenneth's lute. >Have you paired these gimped strings with an octave? Any problems >with intonation? I'd mostlikely pair it with a Nylgut octave. I was >just at Dan's site and about to order some gimped strings, but unless >I'm mistaken, these are very expensive. I'd be getting about 5 or 6 >strings (for two lutes). This is a couple hundred dollars. I'm very >concerned about the trueness. I found the loaded gut strings were >useless when paired with an octave string. They would be in tune at >the open position and out of tune at the third fret. I would pair it >with a Nylgut octave. Do you think that would create problems? For >example, would they go in opposite directions if the climate changed? >I don't want to make an expensive mistake. >TIA > > >As I said before, I use Dan Larson's gimped strings for mandolino and > >archlute bases... and they seem to be very long-lived indeed. I > >personally > >like these strings very much. And yes, they are as you describe them. On > >Dan's earlier gimped strings the wire was often detectable on the > >surface of > >the string. With his current version, you only feel the smooth gut > >surface. These strings are also very pretty to look at since you can see > >the spiral of wire through the gut. > > > >Best, > > > >Eric > > > >Craig Allen wrote: > > > >>Ed wrote: > >> > >> > >>>Wound 6th courses do not last as long as gut strings, believe me. I think > >>>it is because in a wound string, you have 2 moving parts.... the metal > >>>winding, and then the floss core. They are actually moving parts, > where in > >>>a gut string, the gut fibers are homogeneously bound. Gut basses last > >>>(seemingly) forever. > >>> > >>> > >> > >>Have you had any experience with the gimped string? If I recall > >>this is a gut string with a single wire wrapped in a longish > >>spiral. I have the same problem Michael does with the wound > >>strings, particularly on the fifth course, wearing out right around > >>the third fret. > >> > >>As a side note, has anyone experimented with making a gimped nylon, > >>nylgut or carbon fiber bass string? > >> > >>Regards, > >>Craig > >> > >> > >>___________________________________________________________ > >>$0 Web Hosting with up to 200MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer > >>10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more. > >>Signup at www.doteasy.com > >> > >> > >> > >>To get on or off this list see list information at > >>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >> > >> > >> > >> > > >-- >Ed Durbrow >Saitama, Japan >http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
