I know these strings well, Anthony. A banjo company repackaged some as a set of banjo strings for the 19th-century repertoire, and even called them the Rob MacKillop set, which surprised me as we had not discussed it. This caused Mimmo to cross me off his Christmas card list, but that is another story.
The strings are good quality, BUT, they are heavily coated to make them water resistant. This is OK if you strike the string at a 90 degree angle, but for many it gave an audible squeak to each note. Some players loved them, some hated them. There were not enough sales, so the company stopped supplying them. I would not personally use them as lute strings. Rob www.robmackillop.net On 28 Nov 2011, at 10:13, Anthony Hind <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Lutenists > Knowing that some of you use KF Harp strings on your theorbos, some > might also like to try gut harps stings. > Indeed, yesterday, I was astonished to discover the existence of another > small? gut string maker (well much in the way Columbus discovered the > Americas, as the company has been in existence in Norfolk since 1905). > The name of the company is Bow brands (did they perhaps originally make > strings for bows and tennis rackets?); at present company director, Carolyn > Clarke says they are now specializing in harp strings, and also that they are > “probably the largest harp string maker in the world". > % > I am no "Royals watcher", but the article on web, also informs me that these > were the strings used by the "Royal Harpist", Claire Jones, for a recent > royal wedding. I did not know there was a royal harpist, but It seems that > the "Bow brand strings are used by Salvi (which the article calls the > Stradivarius of harp makers), who in 2006 made the Royal Harp to celebrate > after Prince Charles reinstated the position of Royal Harpist" (perhaps as > Charles is Prince of Wales, the harp being a symbol of Wales). > > http://tinyurl.com/d6haflu > (You can see a film of their string making next to the article, and also > photos of string making here: > http://tinyurl.com/cgaghfq > In relation to the increasing difficulty for gut string makers to source good > gut due to EU BSE regulations and "red-tape", Carolyn Clarke is quoted in a > recent Telegraph article as saying, "It's a bit stupid. The gut is bleached > and varnished in string making so it poses no risk to humans. And why would > anyone chew on a harp string?" > http://tinyurl.com/bm2sluu > % > I hope this company is not having too much difficulty sourcing gut (just > severe headaches wading through the redtape), but those of you who might want > to try them out on your theorbos, or indeed your harps, might want to do so > fairly quickly. > Regards > Anthony > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
