The extra sounds comes with a lute. Playing with a viol, or a cembalo, or any early music instrument, you'll notice many extra sounds. Modern strings on a modern instrument are another story: another sound from another world. Don't compare. Recording a lute, though, can take things out of balance, especially when playing softly. The extra sound is just as loud as when playing loud, but in relation to the actual musical sound you make, it's so much more noticeable. And microphones tend to be very happy to pick up all the sharp clicks and hisses that we try so hard to avoid. Yes, I study hard to avoid the extra sounds, but while playing I try to think of two things: 1) live with it, accept it, learn to listen to it as part of the lute sound and 2) when recording, make sure the microphones aren't too close to the hand on the fingerboard. I've had some bad experiences, too, though not as bad as Ed.
As for oil, moisturiser, &c. I like clean hands and I like to keep my instruments clean. Washing with soap and cold water and dry well, is my preference. I sometimes have to smooth the hard bits on the fingertips of the hand-on-the-fingerboard with a file or some sandpaper. Oily fingers feel sticky to me. I know a number of viol players who like to have oily hands when playing. I know gut players who wet the tips fingers of the plucking hand and guitar players who oil the tips of the fingers/nails of the plucking hand. Each to his own. David On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 5:39 PM, Daniel Shoskes <[email protected]> wrote: > A question for the "no gut, no glory" crowd. I have noticed that gut > strings are stickier on my left hand fingers and sometimes when I lift > off the string the stickiness can cause extraneous sounds. Have others > noticed this and have they found any solutions? > > thanks > > Danny > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [email protected] www.davidvanooijen.nl *******************************
