I would agree with Roman that discussing in detail about a
string which I have only seen on one lute, and which I was unable to
judge, because I am completely unfamiliar with such a huge bass lute,
would seem slightly surrealistic (a little Dodsonian, let us say),
except for the pleasant tone of humour coming from Sean, which gives
me an insight into how well he will no doubt play a "toy".
However, I do not agree that strings are negligible. They may give a
low percentage of the overall musicality of a lute, and no excellent
string will make a poor lute into musical one, or unfortunately a
poor musician (like myself) into a very musical one, but I do notice
that the careful choice of lute and strings, as well as an adequate
technique can make a difference to the final projection of a player's
performance. I am thinking of someone like Jacob Heringman who
thoughtfully considers all these elements (even microphone
placement), as shown by his interview by Ed Durbrow http://
www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/Heringman.html (also, possibly Jakob
Lindberg, in that other interview).
Many players are unhappy with the top string of their lutes, gut is
ideal from the point of view of texture and sound, but will not be
adopted by everyone, because of its fragility. Nylgut does tend to
stretch and become thin and slightly false, nylon less so, but it is
less pleasant to my ears. It is possible that KF* on mid strings and
Titanium-Nylon on the top as reported by the French lutist), could be
a help to continuo players, who want to play loud, but also want a
better sound. This was the possibility that I was reporting on.
(*David Taylor, whose first choice is apparently gut, nevertheless
gave us his recipe for improving KF strings. Looking at his method,
it could take some time in which the lute would not be played, but if
the result is pleasing, it could be well worth the effort. At the
same time, his discussion explains so wel,l why gut strings do sound
so good).
I understand from Mimmo Peruffo that he might be in a position to
make gut top strings, as strong as nylon. When this happens, if the
sound is as good as the present gut types, there would be little need
for a new string.
I am still hoping
regards
Anthony
PS I have imagined a gadget that could do the trick Sean, it involves
something that looks like two halves of the end of a shoe lace (but
much smaller), and which clamps together, both onto the end of the
lute string and the thinner pulling string (which I suppose you could
attach to your leg
). I did say from "tip to toe".
Le 24 sept. 07 à 14:50, Roman Turovsky a écrit :
> The number of all the enticing possibilities to keep us from actually
> PLAYING is staggering, isn't it?
> RT
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sean Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Lute Net" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 8:24 AM
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Titanium-Nylon and Perlon?
>
>
>>
>> On Sep 24, 2007, at 1:57 AM, Anthony Hind wrote:
>>
>>> Sean and Dana
>>> I think you must both be correct (in a way). I have not experimented
>>> this, but in my mind I see myself stretching a piece of rubber band
>>> held between two fingers of both hands,.
>>> In between the hands the rubber band will become thinner, but on the
>>> other side of the fingers, there is no lengthening, and therefore it
>>> should remain the same, too thick to go through the bridge hole.
>>> You perhaps need to pass another stiff thin string through the
>>> bridge
>>> hole, and use that to pull the string through (so that it is
>>> stretched from tip to toe).
>>>
>>> It does seem complicated, so perhaps the string was shorter than the
>>> lute, but not quite as short as his gesture implied.
>>>
>>> However, Charles Besnaiou does have a few tricks up his sleeves,
>>> such
>>> as making nylgut ropes to replace wire wounds, and attaching them
>>> with one or two of the strands, so as not to have to widen the
>>> bridge
>>> hole.
>>>
>>
>> Dear Anthony,
>>
>> Maybe I'm very short of vision here. Sending another smaller string
>> through sounds good till I imagine connecting it to the real
>> string: A
>> knot, however grasped, usually makes it larger. And despite my feeble
>> attempt at humor I can't think of how to compress the end diameter as
>> though it were under tension.
>>
>> But I've been surprised before and I'm sure there are tricks or tools
>> that have so far escaped me.
>>
>> tout le best,
>> Sean
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
