Martyn
I only know the MP ones. I nearly tried some Universale, but never
got round to it.
I think that the price of gut is not all that high, if you consider
the research (that we don't pay for).
Perhaps, if more musicians showed interest in gut the price might
come down slightly, but perhaps, more interestingly the quality might
go up. It is not that strings are bad now; but apparently, if the old
techniques were fully employed (long periods of soaking the gut in
various solutions), we could have some very superior strings, indeed.
However, this is so time consuming (I am told) that it may not be a
simple question of price.
Best regards
Anthony
Le 24 aout 07 =E0 18:05, Martyn Hodgson a ecrit :
Many thanks for this Anthony.
My main motive for asking was the increasing cost of gut (especially
fret gut oddly enough) and Universale's prices seemed very
competitive - hence if their quality was OK then I'd order from them
rather than MP or Sofracob or Kurschner or others. In your email I'm
not wholly clear if the Venice strings which you mention as being v
good are Aquila's or Universale's - grateful for clarification.
Regarding numbers of guts in a string, you may also be aware of the
view that the old trebles had a significantly higher tensile strength
because they were made of a single well selected gut rather than two
or three thinner guts twisted together which inevitably introduced an
element of discontinuity within the string: I'm not aware that modern
string makers have taken this challenge up yet.
regards,
MH
Anthony Hind <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear Martyn
I don't know whether they are similar to Aquila Venice which
are a twine of two elements, and not a tress of three like Pistoys.
This according to Mimmo Perfuffo results in a more flexible string;
but I suppose flexibilty may not be everything.
I found the Venice very good, particularly on the 4th course, where
Pistoys can't work.
According to MP it doesn't matter what material (ram, cow etc) that
the gut comes from. He claims to have made blind tests to prove this.
On the other hand today we no longer find gut made from whole gut,
but strips. This might make a difference, perhaps. A friend of my
daughter has begun to keep a couple of "vintage" rare breed sheep,
and I notice how small and wild they look, more like miniature goats
(even the female has horns). I wonder whether sheep up to the 17th
century would not have been much smaller than today. I don't know
whether that means the intestines would have been smaller though. It
is just a thought.
M.P. also tells me that he has now rediscovered much of the old
technology in his ongoing research, and could produce some strings as
strong as nylon; however, the process would be painstakingly long,
and I suppose they would be very expensive.
I know that Dan Larson made a gimped string with tungsten that was
exceptionally true, and well liked by the lucky few who could try it.
This may not be historic, but I suppose it was cost that meant the
string remained in prototype form.
I have the impression that if more lutists showed interest in gut
strings, we would see some very interesting developments in this area.
Regards
Anthony
Le 24 aout 07 =E0 17:10, Martyn Hodgson a ecrit :
>
> Has anybody experience of strings by this specialist Italian
> company offering 'Highest quality ram's and ox's gut strings for
> Renaissance, Baroque and Classical performance'?
>
> On their website they only show price lists for violin and gamba
> family instruments but offer 'Special ox's gut strings', High twist
> ram gut strings' Venice catlines' amongs others so I suppose culd
> provide suitable strings for lutes/guitars. Prices look good
> (especially fret gut).
>
> MH
>
>
>
> x's twist', 'Venice Catlines' so I suppose
>
>
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