Anthony,

An aiglet, I think it's called.

I still wonder as to how they'd compress the diameter and what the 
knotting arrangement would be but that's for the engineers to work out.

Back to playing...

s


On Sep 24, 2007, at 8:22 AM, Anthony Hind wrote:

>
>         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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>



Reply via email to