I put overwound strings on my 13-c baroque and have to admit I'm not entirely happy with the sound. They ring far too long and seem to impart a brittle metallic tone to the treble and midrange strings by their sympathetic overtones.
I think highly of Mimmo's loaded bass strings, but haven't been able to get them for several years now. He says he has stopped making them for the moment and is offering a gut string with metal windings and a coat of varnish, which he says is close to the sound of the loaded string. But these don't seem to be available in the US yet. There are also Dan Larson's gimped strings. -Carl Donsbach --On Wednesday, November 09, 2005 1:51 AM +0100 Francesco Tribioli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > For me the gut basses are the *real* reason to play with gut strings. > > I can bear high strings in nylon, even carbon chanterelle, the difference > is not so big, but I really don't bear overspun basses, especially for > Reinassance music but I would say for all music expect late Baroque. Their > overboosted volume, the guitar like timbre so different from that of the > higher courses and the long sustain just disrupt the tonal balance of the > lute. Listen to the Dowland or Bach by Jacob Lindberg, recorded with the > Mimmo's loaded basses, for an example of perfect tonal balance (IMHO of > course) > > Francesco > >> Maybe it is because the overspun bass strings sound so bloody >> good compared to the altenitives. It's nice to have the >> clarity and sustain in the bass range instead of a thud. Of >> course I know there are those who don't like the overspun >> bass strings just for the reasons you have mentioned. It is >> not too dificult to deaden the bass response when necessary >> with overspuns, as opposed to just allowing it to fade out >> naturally as is the practice of some with more traditional strings. >> >> Vance Wood. > > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
