The Bow Brand Harp Strings are a lacquered beef gut. A better choice
may be Pirastro strings which are a oiled sheep gut string. They offer
a lacquered also so be sure to request the oiled if that is what you
want. They are hard to find on the Pirastro website so -
See:
http://www.harpconnection.com/storepages/category1-page38.html
Sit down before you look at the price.
Craig
Craig R. Pierpont
Another Era Lutherie
www.anotherera.com
--- On Mon, 11/28/11, Rob MacKillop <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Rob MacKillop <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Pulling on your gut harp strings
To: "Anthony Hind" <[email protected]>
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, November 28, 2011, 4:34 AM
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 <[1][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).
>
> [2]http://tinyurl.com/d6haflu
> (You can see a film of their string making next to the article, and
also photos of string making here:
> [3]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?"
> [4]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
> [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. file://localhost/mc/[email protected]
2. http://tinyurl.com/d6haflu
3. http://tinyurl.com/cgaghfq
4. http://tinyurl.com/bm2sluu
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
