Andrew Hartig, who edited the recent LSA Quarterly on wire-strung
instruments, in now making wire strings for things like citterns,
bandoras, orpharions and English guittars. I like his string better
than what I used to get from NRI and they are considerably cheaper in
you live in North America.
Nancy
At 08:50 AM 12/20/2010, Eugene C. Braig IV wrote:
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] [[1]
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
> [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
Nancy Carlin Associates
P.O. Box 6499
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phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582
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[4]www.groundsanddivisions.info
Representing:
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Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The Venere
Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
web site - [5]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
3. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/
4. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/
5. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
