Hello collective wisdom,
I'm sure this has all been discussed in full before, but the other day
I started to wonder about lute-stringing and I'm hoping some of you
won't mind helping me oput a bit with ideas.
I recently ordered a full set of gut strings for my vihuela (calculated
string-thickness with Paul Baier's string calculator). My vihuela is in
G at 440 and its string length is 56cm (its by Alexander Batov by the
way)...
anyway my thoughts and queries are as follows: (please excuse
amatuerish questions!)
isn't the Baeir string-density calculator just his interpretation? by
this I mean, If our lute's bridge can take the increased tension, isn't
it possible to string at a given pitch, but with thicker strings than
the string calculator suggests for that pitch? or thinner strings at a
lesser tension.
can anyone tell me about the various top players' choices on strings -
for example, Hoppy Smith has a unique lute-sound, obviously from
playing right over the rose, but on some records of his he also seems
to have a very high tension on his strings- I gather this because he
still sounds as if he's playing over the rose, but there is a punch, or
'pop' to the sound, quite different from the rather sloppy sound one
gets playing over the rose at a low string-tension... another example-
some of Jakob Lindberg's recordings (particularly the La Serenissima
set) Have a beautiful 'woody' gut sound, kind of dry but with depth,
but also with a quite short sustain, which adds charm of its own. Chris
Wilson has a very sparkling gut sound, bright but not dry, his best
sound I think is on the 'la compagna disk'. The list goes on and on,
and then you have 'way out' players like Eduardo Eguez who have a very
different sound, obviously with huge string-tension. There seem to be
different 'schools' - those who like a kind of dry, woody, gut sound
and those who like a floating, airier sound. I guess this isn't so much
a question as just an attempt to get the ball rolling on some thoughts
about strings, sound, etc... I don't hae a lot of experience in this
department so if anyone wants to share their experiences with this kind
of thing it would be most helpful!
thanks,
O
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