> made of gut , nevertheless Dalla Casa played with long nails, as it can be > seen in the picture. Doesn't a gut string get worn out in two days, when
No, the strings get a bit rough, but when you take care to keep your nails smooth it's not a big problem. You might want to use a varnished, or oiled, first string though. I played gut with nails for a while. But I felt it defeated the point of using gut, so I cut my nails. Nails make a bright sound, loud and conveniently sharp when needed, good for continuo in large groups. In the end I found I can make a loud and sharp sound with fingers on gut as well, although quite differently: closer to the bridge, wrist further away from the strings, less 'gentle' string-attack. Very effective in larger groups, too. David To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
