Some synthetic strings sound better than others. The nylgut to my ear has a lot of out of tune harmonics, so gut to me sounds much better than nylgut. But nylgut is so convenient! High quality nylon and some carbon strings can sound good, but there are a lot of junky synthetics in carbon and nylon as well.
Of course, this is personal preference, some ppl like nylgut, and so on. You can't go wrong with good quality gut strings of course, and bad gut strings sound truly dreadful. As a former tuner, I can't tolerate out of tune partials easily, but then again the effect is greater on certain lutes. Many people have no problem with the harmonics--we all hear differently in subtle ways. Sounding like a bad guitar may not be bad--do you want the lute to sound like a good guitar? Lastly, perhaps your recording device cannot handle the very fast moving harmonics of the lute, and you need a faster microphone/preamp combo. dt At 01:03 PM 6/2/2010, you wrote: >Dear lutenists, > >there is a problem - to me at least: > >- Some time ago a certain person commented one of my "accords nouveaux" >"y-tubings" by words: "it sounds like a bad guitar". I was playing a >10-courser stringed by synthetics. > >- Since last December I have been playing an 11-courser stringed by gut. In >the beginning I had very harsh sound. Perhaps getting better? Not much. Who >knows? But REALLY enjoyable touch and feel! > >- Now the 11-courser is in "garage"; some bar(-s) is(are) loose. Eagerly >waiting to get it back... > >- The problem: My lutes stringed by synthetic strings sound also to me - >especially when recorded! - "like a bad guitar". > >Is it really so, or did I just miss the touch to synthetics? > >worried, > >Arto > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
