Human skin is acidic - we secrete weak acids through our skin - even the fingertips. This acid will slowly break down the collagen in the gut strings, thus shortening their lives. It is a good idea to wash one's hands (even if they are clean!) with soap before playing (soap is alkaline and neutralizes the acids). This is not a 'cure' , but it helps to slightly lengthen the short life of the gut string. Remember, Baron, in the "Study of the Lute" (1727), boasts that "there are instances where a Roman string lasted four weeks". !!! So this problem is not new. trj
-----Original Message----- From: Anthony Hind <[email protected]> To: William Samson <[email protected]> Cc: lute <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 7:44 am Subject: [LUTE] Re: String hairs William, I have also been suffering recently from this problem, more than previously. I had dropped the pitch from 407 to 392Hz but while encreasing the diameter from 44 to 46 (70cm lute). This should result in a very slight drop in tension, but the fraying has been more frequent. This did, however, correspond with a change of string make, but in the past, when I had tried this particular maker's strings they had proved both very sweet, and quite strong. This could be due to a poor batch, or perhaps even be down to the strange weather we have had recently. In fact strangely, the last string I put on has lasted quite well, following about five that haven't done very well. When transporting my lute too and fro between very dry Paris, and humid Normandy, I have put my lute inside one of those survival sheets, within the lute case, just hoping that this may protect it from any extreme temperature or humidity shocks. Otherwise, I do as you do, snipping the hair as close as I dare to the string, with a fear that I might also snip the string, or slip and dig into the lute. Anthony __________________________________________________________________ De : William Samson <[email protected]> A : David Smith <[email protected]> Cc : "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Envoye le : Jeudi 19 Janvier 2012 9h28 Objet : [LUTE] Re: String hairs Unless you want to be continually replacing your first string, you should either drop to a lower pitch standard (even a semitone will increase the lifespan quite significantly) or if that isn't an option (horror of horrors) use a synthetic (e.g. nylgut) string for your first. There's always the forlorn hope that somebody will start producing stronger gut, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe one of us knows more than me about the process of giving gut an even diameter, but I have heard there are two options, one involving the abrasion of the 'rough' string, and the other using strings that have been very carefully hand-made with selected strips and don't need grinding of the string's surface to make it even. The latter type would be stronger, but I wouldn't know where to buy them. Bill From: David Smith <[1][email protected]> To: Lute List <[2][email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 19 January 2012, 6:25 Subject: [LUTE] String hairs I have a new lute that has gut strings on it. I have had it for about 3 days. The 1^st string has unraveled a single "hair" about the 7^th fret. In the past I have just cut these as short as possible but frequently the string breaks within a couple of weeks. Is there any better way to treat these "hairs"? I play with no nails and have been very careful so am somewhat surprised at this happening so quickly. Is this common with gut strings? Thanks for any words of wisdom. Regards David -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1][3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html --
