Dear Ed and All
Thanks Ed, I am relieved that Dan may be safely able to continue
gut making (and even to improve his production methods), I wish him
luck; but I am less optimistic for gut string making in Europe. We have
lost Sofracob, and now Aquila, and others seem to be finding it very
difficult to source gut. Interpretations of BSE rulings on the use of
gut in the EU appear to be the main reason for this, but the need for
expensive specialist machines for treating raw gut, is also a problem.
We all hope that Dan's new machines will allow him to resolve this last
problem, so that he can source gut from just anywhere.
%
While I am relieved about Dan, both for gut users, and for your work
together, it would remain a severe blow to ancient music in Europe, if
gut producers, here, go out of business.
The problem does not of course just concern loaded gut. I would indeed
be severely troubled if I had to forgo loaded strings and Venice
(particularly with the Baroque lute), just as I imagine you would
regret the loss of your favoured Gimps and Pistoys.
However, I do not really count, I am but an amateur (expressing here my
own personal sadness), but we should think of all those European
performers (particularly the bowed string users) who mainly rely on
European gut string makers. Even if Dan could try to expand production
to supply them all, would it be healthy if we have to rely on just one
string maker?
%
I believe there are but two remaining large producers (apart from Dan
in the US): Kuerschner (in Germany), and Toro (in Italy), with a few
other very small producers or outlets: Damian Duglecki in the US,
Georges Stopanni and Nick Baldock in the EU. Two other outlets are
dependant on Toro. I believe the failure of any of those larger
producers would have grave repercussions for ancient music. It may not
be possible to coax Aquilla back into the gut string market (loaded gut
may be gone), but perhaps it is still possible to defend the remaining
producers.
%
While, I am very conscious of health issues, and would not like to see
any return of a BSE epidemic, it does seem preposterous that EU
regulation (or its interpretation) is stifling gut string production,
here (while Europeans do continue to consume beef, including offal).
In relation to this, I call everyone's attention to Dimitri Badiarov's
violin blog spot where a petition is announced calling for the
protection of this industry, which is so important for the musical
arts, and the ancient music community, and asking that gut string
production should be considered a special case, as concerns BSE
regulations.
%
[1]http://violoncellodaspalla.blogspot.com/2011/11/severe-early-music-c
risis-caused-by-eu.html
%
Lutenists, whether gut or synthetic users should surely be able to sign
this petition, remembering that our friends from the bowed section do
not have the same potential for using synthetic substitutes.
If you are a gut user, it does not actually matter what gut maker's
strings you use (except for a couple of minor exceptions) the rawgut
will be coming from the same few endangered raw gut producers, who
remain at risk, due to the interpretation of EU laws.
%
Here is the link to the petition addressed to the President of the
European Commission
http://tinyurl.com/7natzx9
%
And here is a second one addressed to the Italian government
http://tinyurl.com/76xbjz3
%
Regards
Anthony
________________________________
De : Edward Martin <[2][email protected]>
A : Anthony Hind <[3][email protected]>
Cc : "[4][email protected]" <[5][email protected]>
Envoye le : Samedi 19 Novembre 2011 19h07
Objet : [LUTE] Re: Gut Strings
Dear Anthony,
Thank you for your most thoughtful note. I am sorry it took me a
while to respond.
Thanks for the comments on the sound of my gut-strung lutes by
Dan. I have had the pleasure to be playing mostly gut strung lutes
for the past 15-20 years, and I have been a direct witness in
the
development of his, and other makers' strings. Yes, I am also sad
that Mimmo is not making gut strings at the moment, because having a
variety of which type of gut string to use has proven a benefit to us
all. As I said before, he is a fantastic person, and his amazing
work has been beneficial to us all.
Please do not despair of not having gut strings available to play, as
Dan has no intentions of stopping production. In fact, he is in the
process of setting up more mechanized gut splitting machines. Rather
than splitting gut by hand, the new machines will soon be splitting
gut, which in turn will only increase his production. He will
continue to fill orders, and his strings are high quality. He has no
problems with getting good raw gut. His bottleneck in making strings
is the hand splitting, which is so fatiguing and tiresome; his new
process
will only improve quality and quantity.
Yes, the sound and subtle technical differences in playing loaded vs.
gimped or Pistoy is there, but very subtle. I cannot really tell the
difference in technical requirements over playing one vs the other,
but I like the plain Pistoy string better than the gimped, down to
the 10th course. That is merely my preference. Those subtle
differences are nothing, compared to the differences between
synthetics and wound basses.
Although Mimmo is not making gut strings, great gut strings are and
will continue to be available. Our art with the lute will not suffer.
The best,
ed
At 08:36 AM 11/18/2011, Anthony Hind wrote:
> Dear Ed
> There are so few gut string makers that the loss of any one
of
> them is a tragedy.
> Having lost
Sofracob, one of the oldest European gut makers, we are now
> losing Mimmo,
> whose research imput is second to none.
> It is not just his strings, but also that deep research input
which
> Mimmo made open to all.
> I had the privilige of being able to follow some of his amazing
> research and experiments in relation to his hypotheis of the
loaded
> bass string. His tenacity in keeping those experiments going, in
spite
> of some failures and half successes, and against the general
opinion
> that it just was not possible to make a loaded string that was
true, is
> difficult to imagine.
> In its recent form this bass string is truly superb, especially
when
> supported by a Venice octave. The result is a gut bass course
having
> the singing quality of a Meanes.
> When I think that Mimmo's loaded string hypothesis began as a post
> grad. research project and that Mimmo learnt gut string making
just to
> further that research, this result is truly amazing; this makes
the
> news that he has finally had to stop all gut string making, all
the
> more poignant.
> For those of us who have adopted this bass course structure, the
loss
> will be difficult to replace, as our playing style has developed
> closely in relation to the specific behaviour of these strings. We
just
> have to hope that Mimmo will be able to make synthetic loaded
basses
> close to the gut original, and that synthetics users will now be
able
> to benefit from the fall-out of
all that historic gut string research.
> Don't let us forget that Mimmo at present is the only string maker
> actually producing synthetic strings specifically for musical
> instruments, and not just re-labelling fishing lines; but this has
no
> doubt been at considerable investment in extrudors, and so forth,
and
> therefore some personal financial risk to himself, which no other
> string maker has so far taken.
> We are of course all hoping that Dan can find a way round any of
these
> raw gut source problems, and that he will continue to make his
> marvellous strings, which are, as you say, so well adapted to his
> instruments. I have been able to appreciate their quality both
through
> some of your excellent recordings, as well as hearing his
theorbo
> strings on Benjamin Narvey's recent de Visee programme.
> Dan's gimped basses are indeed a good alternative to loaded
basses,
> albeit with a brighter timbre, taughter feel and different
harmonic
> structure; but it was so good to have the wide tonal choice that
the
> existence of both bass types, could give. The lute player's
palette has
> now sadly suddenly shrunk, having lost that marvellous singing
dark
> tone that, in my opinion, only a loaded bass could bring.
> Having recently heard Benjamin Narvey's peformance, here, in
Paris,
> using loaded basses on three of his baroque lutes, I can say that
> these certainly play some role in his unique "singing" vocal
style.
> This is not to say that loaded basses are necessarilly
intrinsically
> superior to other basses for all performers and lutes. Miguel
Ysrael
> develops an exquisitely delicate touch with synthetics, as he also
> showed in a recent concert, here. You have produced excellent
sounds
> with gimped basses.
> My concern has never been that one bass string theory should win
out
> over another, rather that players should develop a distinctive
sound in
> keeping with their particular aesthetic choices and approaches to
the
> historic bass string question. Different approaches and styles
should
> lead to a richer ancient music field.
> I am very happy that you are in a unique position to develop your
> string choices in such close proximity to Dan. What a wonderful
> situation: your almost
direct feed back must be such a help to him, and
> your possibility of constantly tweaking your stringing must be so
> useful for both of you.
> My very best wishes for your continued collaboration.
> Anthony
> ________________________________
> De : Edward Martin <[1][6][email protected]>
> A : Taco Walstra <[2][7][email protected]>; Edward Martin
> <[3][8][email protected]>
> Cc : "[4][9][email protected]" <[5][10][email protected]>
> Envoye le : Jeudi 17 Novembre 2011 1h04
> Objet : [LUTE] Re: Gut Strings
> Hi, Taco.
> Dan has a very cordial relationship with Mimmo. Although they
might
> seem to be competitors, I do not believe there is any animosity
> between them, and neither party has suffered due to efforts of the
> other. Mimmo is also a friend of mine, as I have (and continue
to)
> advocate his strings, and Mimmo quite often has me sample new
items,
> which is something I am most appreciative from him. He truly
wants
> my feedback, not thinking of competition. In short, Mimmo is a
> fabulous person, and his impact on our lute world has been
immense,
> and we all have benefit from his fantastic strings.
> As you know, Dan is my friend, and neighbor as well! Lucky me- it
is
> about a on-minute walk to his home, and sometimes that is all I
have
> to do to get strings. But for the most part, I have do either
drive
> one mile, or walk there for strings, lutes, vihuelas, and repairs
(I
> know, I know, poor me!). I am indeed fortunate to have a
"friendly
> neighborhood lute builder and string maker", literally in my
> neighborhood. By the way, Dan's work is also fantastic, on
> instruments and strings as well.
> I cannot speak for Dan, and I would never make a statement about
> whether or not he would consider re-visiting the loaded gut
venue. I
>
do not think Dan has loaded gut since the 1990's, but he certainly
> does make gimped strings, and in my opinion, they do sound close
to
> loaded gut. His silver sterling gimped strings are, in my
opinion,
> superior to the copper gimped. The thing is, the gimped strings
seem
> to be a very high quality string, as is the Pistoy that Dan
> makes; they are always very true. There is no problem with good
> quality with Gamut Strings, and the sound and feel is
> wonderful. Mommo's and Dan's strings are of equal quality and
sound,
> in my opinion.
> Some Europeans order directly from Dan, and I know that he does,
or
> has had some European distributors. So, as awful as the
situation
> sounds from Europe, there
_are_ good available strings, although for
> the Europens, they are from distant shores, the USA.
> We have come so far in the world of strings, both synthetic and
> natural. I feel very badly about this situation as well.
> ed
> At 09:35 AM 11/16/2011, Taco Walstra wrote:
> >On 11/16/2011 01:41 PM, Edward Martin wrote:
> >>Dan is in the UK at the moment, but I am unaware of any stoppage
of
> >>gut string making from his shop. He has 4 employees making gut
> >>strings, and one is my daughter. I am aware of no lay-off
plans.
> >>
> >>Dan does use beef gut for trebles, simply because they are
better,
> >>stronger, longer lasting.
> >>
>
>>ed
> >Don't know how the relation is between Dan and mimmo, but
wouldn't
> >it be possible to make the loaded gut strings in the USA by
> >Gamutstrings using the recipe of mimmo and pay a small fee to
Aquila?
> >Unfortunately Gamutstrings stopped all work in this area, but I
> >really love this kind of strings. even -just as in the old times
-
> >they are sometimes not quite well when new (for example in
> >positions), aging etc. But the tonequality is magnificent.
> >Taco
> >
> >
> >--
> Edward Martin
> 2817 East 2nd Street
> Duluth, Minnesota 55812
> e-mail: [6][11][email protected]
> voice: (218) 728-1202
> [7][12]http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
>
> [8][13]http://www.myspace.com/edslute
>
> [9][14]http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [10][15]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
> --
>
>References
>
> 1. mailto:[16][email protected]
> 2. mailto:[17][email protected]
> 3. mailto:[18][email protected]
> 4. mailto:[19][email protected]
> 5. mailto:[20][email protected]
> 6. mailto:[21][email protected]
> 7. [22]http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
> 8. [23]http://www.myspace.com/edslute
> 9. [24]http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
> 10. [25]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
Edward Martin
2817 East 2nd Street
Duluth, Minnesota 55812
e-mail: [26][email protected]
voice: (218) 728-1202
[27]http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
[28]http://www.myspace.com/edslute
[29]http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
--
References
1.
http://violoncellodaspalla.blogspot.com/2011/11/severe-early-music-crisis-caused-by-eu.html
2. mailto:[email protected]
3. mailto:[email protected]
4. mailto:[email protected]
5. mailto:[email protected]
6. mailto:[email protected]
7. mailto:[email protected]
8. mailto:[email protected]
9. mailto:[email protected]
10. mailto:[email protected]
11. mailto:[email protected]
12. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
13. http://www.myspace.com/edslute
14. http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
15. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
16. mailto:[email protected]
17. mailto:[email protected]
18. mailto:[email protected]
19. mailto:[email protected]
20. mailto:[email protected]
21. mailto:[email protected]
22. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
23. http://www.myspace.com/edslute
24. http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
25. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
26. mailto:[email protected]
27. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
28. http://www.myspace.com/edslute
29. http://magnatune.com/artists/edward_martin
