Good question, Herbert. In my opinion, a wound string goes dead well before a gut or monofilament string. The reason is that on wound strings, the metal winding has wear & tear of the nylon floss or gut core. Due to the mechanical nature of many vibrations, the mechanical breakdown occurs. As well, let' imagine on the 4th & 5th courses, there is a good deal of fingering, which accelerates the breakdown.
Actually, gut basses almost never go dead or break down. I have used some basses for more than 10 years, and they sound the same as new. Thinner gut strings have fewer fibers and strands holding them together, so they also break down faster than their thicker counterparts. ed At 08:04 AM 8/10/2005 -0500, Herbert Ward wrote: >What actually causes strings to go dead? > >One theory is that dirt cakes between the windings and causes >the string to stiffen slightly. But that would apply only >to wound strings, and should be removable with a soapy >bath. Then too is the question of whether dirt could actually >stiffen a string appreciably. > >Another theory might involve mechanical damage to the string >(eg, accrued imbalance from wear, or dents from the frets). But, >while damage might cause false harmonics, I don't see how it >could cause the loss of brilliance which is the hallmark of >a dead string. > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
