Dear Oskar,
As others have already said, the maker of the instrument is a good
source of information, but there are complications in terms of the kind
of technique and the kind of sound you prefer. String calculators are
very helpful in achieving a specific tension, but (of course) no help at
all in deciding which tension you want.
Just for the record, as far as I know Chris Wilson has never used gut
strings on a recording and achieved his unique sound using low tension
trebles, high tension basses, and playing over the rose, but most of all
using his unique fingers! Hoppy has hardly ever used gut strings on a
recording (with the possible exception of an LP of Albert de Rippe). As
far as I know, Jakob Lindberg's recordings which you mention used roped
gut for the basses (but his Dowland used loaded gut basses). The
"woody" sound you mention can be very attractive, perhaps nowhere more
so than on Jacob Heringman's "Siena Lute Book" recording.
If you get really desperate you can also listen to my home-made
recordings on all-gut strings on my website. I like the "woodiness" and
lack of sustain, but I do think it can be over-estimated - modern gut
stringing can be much better than you might hear on recordings which are
now twenty or more years old.
Best wishes,
Martin
www.luteshop.co.uk
Oskar De Mari wrote:
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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