Hi Caius, I absolutely agree with David - there is nothing better than a gut strung theorbo and it's much easier to keep under control than a gut strung lute. Also, unless you have an enormous instrument, the highest strings will not be as thin as they get on a lute, so there will be less chance of them breaking unexpectedly or wearing out during a concert. Are you still using wound strings for the low basses? These should be the first to go! I liked the old Sofracob double-twist gut for the basses, but since you can't get it now Gamut basses might be a good option. On the fingerboard I normally use Aquila half-rectified for strings 1-4, Aquila Venice for string 5 and Stoppani high-twist for string 6 (or a wound string for later repertoire). But I'm still experimenting with other strings, especially for the trebles. The problem with Nylon is that it sounds sweet but lacks the overtones and brightness of gut, so it doesn't project so well (as David points out). I don't have much experience with Carbon, but I imagine the thinness of the higher strings could make them unpleasant to play and the sound lacks depth and quality. The flexibility of Nylgut always gives me the impression that the tension of the string is lower than it actually is - after playing on real gut for a couple of years, I don't feel that nylgut is a very good substitute anymore. Perhaps New Nylgut will be more convincing? Looking forward to playing together in the summer... Sam
On 19 December 2010 10:01, hera caius <[1][email protected]> wrote: Hello lutenists, As I played theorbo really a lot this months, I started to wonder about the sound of the strings. In this moment I use some Nylon and carbon in the high registers and some copper on the basses and it sounds really good but the basses sounds too long and the tension of the treble strings is too low. Can anyone give me some ideas what kind of strings I can try (with sound closer to gut), and where can I buy? Thank you. -- To get on or off this list see list information at [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Sam Chapman Oetlingerstrasse 65 4057 Basel (0041) 79 530 39 91 -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
