Dear luthenists
Since I believe many gut users will be tempted to use the New NG
for Chanterelles on their lutes, I decided to test them that way,
while keeping all my other strings in gut : my trebles in pure Aquila
gut, my Meanes as Venices, and my bases loaded with mostly Venice
octaves.
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I therefore put a 0.44 NG on my 70cm 11c Warwick at 407Hz, and a 42 NG
on my 60cm 7c Gerle at 440Hz.
$
I only have slight direct playing experience with the old nylgut, as I
have mostly used all gut; so my comparison has to be mainly with treble
gut (brightish: Aquila, Keurschner, softer: Baldock and darker: Gamut,
and of course Sofracob).
$
However, I have heard NG on many other people's lutes, and tend to
find them coldish sounding (bluish transistor-like), particularly when
a lutenist uses them with warm loaded basses (reddish valve-like).
$
When I first looked at the New Nylgut, just as Ed Martin has reported,
[1]http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg02195.h
tml
my initial impression was that the feel was much better than the old
nylgut, and that the colour was closer to gut, although still slightly
whiter than Aquila gut, but certainly nothing noticeable at, say, a
meter's distance.
$
I was a little surprised when setting light to the end of the string
(as one does) to find that it broke into flame. I swiftly put it out,
and all was well (I dare say that is always what happens with
synthetics), a little ball had formed without splitting the string as
sometimes happens with gut.
$
The second surprise was when I started to raise the tension of the 44NG
on the 70cm lute. There was a sudden stretch, with quite a few extra
turns of the peg (compared with gut), before some stabilisation set-in.
I wondered about this, as it had been said that the new string was less
flexible than the old Nylgut. In fact, I didn't notice this so much
with the 42NG on the 60cm lute.
However, in both cases, when the string has finally stabilised, it did
feel about as stiff as gut (and certainly stiffer than the old nylgut).
$
I think Ed is quite right to have left his New Nylgut strings to settle
for a day and a night before testing them. I put the chanterelle on in
the morning, and tried it out on the 70cm lute in the afternoon. My
initial impression was of loudness, as mentionned by Ed, but with a
slightly over-bright sound, and more surface noise pick up than on the
older lower gut trebles.
This, however had more or less dissappeared by the second day. The
string remains fairly bright yet warmer than the Old Nylgut, but with
excellent sustain. I now feel it blends in rather well with the lower
gut Aquila trebles.
$
I have often remarked that a string can lend its qualities and defects
to surrounding strings, but I hadn't noticed to what extent this was
true of a chanterelle. All the treble strings, particularly on my
Renaissance lute, seemed to have gained slightly in sustain and
dynamics from the new string. I liked this, but some may prefer a
slightly duller sound.
$
The string seems about as stiff under the finger as an Aquila gut top
string; and I would hazard a guess that it is this string ideal (his
strong treble) that Mimmo was striving to achieve, with a good strong
clear sound.
Now I wonder whether it would blend in quite so well with softer Gamut
or Baldock lower trebles?
$
I noticed that the 70cm string took longer to stabilze than the 60cm
one. I don't know whether that was due to the difference in length or
in thickness, but two days is not very long, and lutenists do have to
be patient. It was confirmed for me by a serious nylgut user that this
new string does stabilise quicker than the Old Nylgut.
$
I personally thought there was quite a big difference between the old
and the new type, and this would seem to be the opinion of some other
gut users (Ed and a neighbour who tried my two lutes).
However, nylgut users (and lovers), from discussions on the net, do not
seem to be quite so conscious of the difference. One serious Nylgut
user told me that they were about 97% the same as the old nylgut, but
with better colour and stability, as well as greater clarity on the top
string.
Gut users probably have different expectations of a string, and I feel
that the New Nylgut, at least as a chanterelle, gets closer to my ideal
than the old one did.
This is my opinion, based on my own string experience, which will
evidently vary from player to player.
$
In short, Mimmo seems to have combined his skills as a chemical
engineer with his extensive historical string knowledge, to come quite
close to his ideal strong gut treble, in accordance with his
historical string theory set out on his web pages: it is clear, strong
and projecting well, with good sustain, but once settled in not too
loud and with a good feel.
$
Now will I be keeping this string on both lutes? At present, I am very
tempted to leave it on my Renaissance lute (where the string breaks
much more often), but a little less for my Baroque lute.
I remain a gut user at heart, but I feel this is a very good substitute
when you want a string that will last, but without sacrificing too much
sound quality. Indeed, perhaps, as I said, in terms of sustain, there
might be a little gain.
$
This is my opinion after three days in use.
$
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to hearing a lute with loaded basses,
otherwise entirely strung with New Nylgut, including octaves. This
configuration did not work too well (in my opinion) when I heard it
with Old Nylgut, but New Nylgut might just be warm enough.
Regards
Anthony
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References
1. http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg02195.html
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