I am also no physicist, and I agree that the density does not change with gut. If you stretch it or twist it, the density remains 1.36. The way you can increase the density is by adding metal either by twisting (i.e. Pistoy) or laoding the string with metalic salts.
In my experience, the thicker the string, the longer it takes to settle into good intonation... that is, of course, when using gut. Nylgut is a different matter. Years ago, when Toyohiko was using nylgut, he measured a string's diameter after being stretched to stability. Nylgut trebles after a month or 2 became much smaller in diameter. For example, a treble size of 0.42 after 6-8 weeks would become 0.38 or so. In nylgut, the thicker strings take ever so much longer to settle in, as compared to trebles. I think it takes about 5 months for a 5th coure nylgut, i.e. around 1.40 diameter, to settle in to where one does not need to tune it very much (my experience). The reason is that nylgut is a polymer, and when stretched, it becomes thinner. It is always in a state of stretch, when under tension. But, nylgut is more stable in sensitivity to heat and humidity. A gut treble of 0.42 after 6 weeks (if one can ever get that kind of durability - rare!) is still 0.42 My 2 cent's worth. ed At 05:40 PM 3/5/2010, howard posner wrote: >On Mar 5, 2010, at 2:05 PM, wikla wrote: > > > But getting thinner is compensated by getting denser. Just a > > quick thought... Comments by specialists of physics? :-) > >I'm no physicist, but it seems to me that when you stretch a string >its density stays the same: it gets thinner and longer. It would >get denser if you shrank its length and kept the diameter the same, >which I suppose is what happens when you twist it. > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [email protected] voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute
