The beauty of gut sound is greatly compromised by gut's insufferable intonation, especially on the octaved courses. RT
Sent from my iPhone On Oct 6, 2012, at 2:39 PM, Jarosław Lipski <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, varnishing helps, but doesn't totally stop a string absorbing humidity. > It rather protects from wear and tear.I tried them. They sound duller, > inferior to normal gut and are not historical strings. This is what MP writes > about them on his website: > "Gut strings are varnished in order to protect the strings from wear and > tear. The varnishing of strings is not a historical process; the earliest > samples of varnished strings we have found only date back to the 1920-30s. A > varnished string has a somewhat duller sound and the attack under the bow is > slightly more difficult and liable to whistle". > When I use gut I do it for it's beautifull sound, so the idea of something > that has neither advantages of synthetics nor gut doesn't really suit me. > > All the best > > Jaroslaw > > > Wiadomość napisana przez Sam Chapman w dniu 6 paź 2012, o godz. 17:34: > >> Well, there's gut and there's varnished gut. The latter may not have >> been used historically, but it absorbs much less humidity from the air >> and sweat from the fingers, therefore staying in tune well, maintaining >> it's tone quality and lasting longer. That said, I've not had much >> experience using varnished gut in concerts, but am now considering it >> as possibly a good compromise. It's certainly closer to plain gut in >> terms of feel and sound than any kind of synthetic string. Benjamin, >> what kind of gut do you use? >> >> best, >> >> Sam >> On 6 October 2012 12:26, Jaros^3aw Lipski <[1][email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> No, it isn't a new problem. This is what Mattheson writes (1727) >> answering Baron in his book Ephorus, naming disadvantages of the >> lute: >> "Because of the many strings, and special strings (gut-strings) >> which depend more on stable temperature and humidity than other >> instruments (to stay in tune)." >> We don't know how gut strings of the past differed from modern ones, >> but just one thing shouldn't be disregarded - gut absorbs humidity >> from the air, synthetics do not. Why synthetics go out of tune? >> Because of the temperature differences and bigger elasticity. >> From my experience I can only say that after changing a Nylgut >> string it takes quite a lot of time before it can be used for a >> concert, however then it stays in tune better than gut. But >> obviously it is possible to play a concert on gut strings providing >> that it is not in a very humid place (or one with changing air >> conditions). >> I wouldn't mix gut with synthetics though, as each material goes >> different way. So my advice is use either synthetics or gut >> depending on your wallet's size :) >> Best regards >> Jaroslaw >> WiadomoP:ae napisana przez Mark Probert w dniu 6 pa 1/4 2012, o >> godz. 04:17: >> >>> >>> >>> Then, isn't there the old adage of lute players spending half their >>> time tuning and the other half playing out of tune? This is not a >> new >>> problem, though I do believe that synthetics help. >>> >>> Kind regards >>> >>> -- >>> mark. >> >>> 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/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
