Hi Craig,
Roped would be the 2- or 3- strand gut bass strings sold by Aquila
("V-gut"), Dan L and others. I would definitely choose this over the
loaded gut but I haven't tried the gimped versions yet.
I'm not sure how gimped strings apply to pre-1580 music. I do know that
Ed Martin and others like it on their 6th courses and below. If we
assume, believe or imagine that "gimped" made its appearance at the end
of the 16th century then it would certainly have helped fuel the drive
to more courses on single necked lutes. Roped loses its appeal --for
me-- above 1.6mm diameters, ie. 7th course (D) and beyond.
I would imagine the 5th and 6th courses of Capirola and Dalza's day to
have been solid (nonroped) gut and would obviously benefit from the
octave. Before that there is the question of whether they even had a
6th course tho there are occasional mentions of one, I think.
Give my regards to Crabbetowne ;^)
Sean
On Nov 17, 2005, at 11:14 AM, Craig Allen wrote:
> Hi Sean,
>
>> I think you mentioned Annapolis...I heard my first lute concert at
>> Great Hall at St John's --probably the best hall in town.
>
> I'm about 20 miles south near by not quite overlooking the Bay. And
> I've heard St. John's is nice but I haven't had the opportunity to
> attend a concert there.
>
>> Getting back to Octaves: A largish gut string from the 4th course down
>> will have an increasingly thuddy sound on an untheorbo'd neck. There's
>> no way all that diameter can create overtones. Therefore, as the
>> string
>> is pared down w/ loading and metal it has a chance to create overtones
>> like its smaller brothers as well as letting it ring longer. Pairing a
>> metal string w/ an ocave gut is, in a sense, gilding the lilly.
>
> So if one were to go with all gut, you'd recommend a gimped or even a
> loaded gut bass fundamental against a gut 8ve?
>
>> For a 6c lute I'd suggest roped 6th and 5th courses paired w/ a gut or
>> nylgut 8ve (prefs in that order).
>
> Ok, you'll have to explain "roped" to me as applies to strings. I take
> it you mean gut strings in this case?
>
>> The 4th works fine with a solid gut
>> string and a gut, nylgut (or even nylon) 8ve. This is what I've used
>> for the past 5 years on all my 6c's and I've enjoyed a very balanced
>> sound both for the course and for the lute overall. The fundamentals
>> usually last me about a year or longer, depending on use while the gut
>> octaves go intonation-funny much sooner. Your kilometerage may vary.
>
> I've just changed my 4th course from octaves to unision. I like the
> feel and playability of it. I was getting uneven plucking because the
> neck on my 6c is thinner than I'm used to because I don't play it as
> often as the 8c (or as often as I should). This has helped a lot in
> making my playing more consistent. When I do get around to building a
> six course lute I will make the neck a bit wider just to see how this
> affects my playing.
>
> Thanks for the info.
>
> 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
>
