Near as I can tell the direct translation is "rubber lacquer". But in the text of some explanations it refers to "rubber lacquer" for French polish. This leads me to believe the term refers to plain shellac since "rubber" in this instance means lacquer for the "rubber" of the French polishing, not the latex material. One man's opinion, I could be wrong, Rob Dorsey, luthier http://robdorsey.com
-----Original Message----- From: Manolo Laguillo [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 5:36 AM To: LUTELIST Subject: [LUTE] Re: LUTE] tying gut frets Hello, Let me share with you a trick related with this topic, which I learned last week, when I visited Jaume Bosser, a luthier who lives 1 hour away from Barcelona. I went to have him build a new fretnut for my viola da mano, because I wanted different distances between the courses, and once there I took profit from his experience, and asked him to change all the frets... Now here is the trick: after fastening the gut tightly around the neck, the luthier pushes the fret downwards using a piece of wood on which he applies force with a hammer. Simple, but effective! In other words, he does not push with the fingernails. Another trick, as a bonus. Prior to making the knot, he applies a 10% solution of 'goma laca' (sorry, I don't know the word in english) to the gut, and so it becomes a little bit sticky (the knot holds better) and at the same is better protected against wear. Saludos from Barcelona, Manolo Laguillo -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
