I do have experience with using brass wire on early Neapolitan mandolins. I hope somebody with direct experience with chitarra battente also weighs in. Given the similarities in construction between early chitarra battente and early Neapolitan mandolins, I suspect the stringing was probably also similar. Some of the mandolin methods published in Paris in the 1760s do prescribe stringing formulae.
At a scale length around 310-315 mm, I use brass around 0.28-0.30 mm as a'. Using Arto's String Calculator, this estimates tension equivalent (in kg) around 3.6-4.1 kg depending upon pitch standard, etc. Plain brass is simply rather fragile, and I plan to replace my a' strings with frequency. I simply buy substantial coils of the preferred gauge from a local harpsichord maker to make mandolin strings (which involves nothing more than cutting to appropriate length and twisting a loop into one end to fix over the hitch pin). My d' strings are two similar brass wires twisted together. Dan Larson's Gamut Strings in the US used to sell twisted-brass strings for early mandolins as did NRI in the UK. Unlike plain brass, the twisted brass is quite durable, so I haven't replaced mine for a long while. I don't know if either entity is still selling it. The low octave on the g course is silver-wound silk, which is a little "thumpy" in tone compared to wire, so it is paired with a g' in plain brass. I use gut (or gut-like synthetic; quill can fray fine gut rather quickly) around 0.50 mm on my high e'' course. I would imagine very similar on the e' of early chitarra battente at around twice the scale length. Luck, Eugene > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Lucas Harris > Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 10:19 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LUTE] Chitarra battente stringing > > Hello, friends! > > > I have a question for anybody out there that might have more experience > with metal strings than I do. > > > I'm struggling to set up a new chitarra battente, which arrived (as is > the tradition) with the same thin steel string gauge across all 5 > courses. So, the first course (e) is super tense, and the third course > (g) is slack like spaghetti, and everything else is somewhere in > between. The problem is that the spaghetti courses go super sharp when > fretted, so it's really hard to tune any chords (i.e., even E major has > the G# on the first fret which is already screaming high). > > > I put some brass strings (from my bandora case) on the G and A, and it > really helped the tuning and got the instrument through its first > concert. However, all of the brass strings have broken, one by one. > I'm really not sure why - the tension was not so high, and although the > coils are pretty old I wouldn't have guessed age to make much > difference in a metal string. > > > Anyway, I'm wondering if anybody has experience trying to string a > battente in a way that is more equal-tension-ish (like a lute or > Baroque guitar) perhaps with harpsichord strings, and if so if they > would share their stringing chart with me. Any prompt help would be > appreciated (the instrument needs to be playable by Sunday - in a pinch > I will just put the spaghetti strings back on). > > > Many thanks!!!! > > > Best, > > > Lucas Harris > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
