A question for experiences of other users of loaded guts from Aquila. I've used them on courses five, six and seven of a 61cm lute at 30 to 33N (around 3kg, if you prefer). I love the sound: gutsy yet with a bite without being metallic. But they buzz. I tend to have a heavy thumb, so I first blamed myself. Soon I discovered it was not my thumb but string buzz against frets because these strings are so flexible. Before the latest concert on this instrument I decided to change all the frets to get rid of the buzzing (steeper incline from highest to lowest fret, whatever to get rid of the buzzing). But with only the first fret (thick one!) in place I discovered the strings buzz high up on the fingerboard even without other frets, so no scheme of fretting would have helped. I have a similar problem with a loaded gut string on my theorbo (single string six). But here an extreme fretting scheme seems to keep the buzzing mostly under control.
I get the impression Mimmo prefers to see his strings used under a higher tension and I get the impression these strings are better suited as non-fretted strings (B-lute 7 and down or the short extension of attiorbatos), which would both reduce the risks of buzzing. But still, these are nice strings to use on the fingerboard. Any people with (dis)similar experiences? Any comments welcome. David - like dt's expression TFZ but regrets to say Mille Regrets is supposedly not written by Josquin, likes Karamazov's Bosnian fado but gets an occasional admonition to get rid of his own tics and facial expressions yet also has fans who enjoy these facial expressions face during concerts and other people who approach him after concerts only to tell how fascinating his eyebrows were and who never mention the music he played - still, it makes a living -- ******************************* David van Ooijen [email protected] www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
