Well, a sustain of 20 seconds or so on is very impossible even with modern
wound strings, whose density is 5 times plain gut: i remember that the
modern wound strings has the best gain over all the bass strings types.
Mersenne wrote that he is mentioning the last bass string; i.e. the ticker.
In the Harmonie Universelle there are a lot of mistakes. One concerning gut:
the Mersenne's calculation give a breacking stress of 19 Kg/ mm2 while it
should be of 34 Kg/mm2 almost. And so on with metal wire calculations, the
equal tension on harps and spinette etc etc. One thing is to consider 20
second of sound and another thing is that the vibration of the string
lasted till 20 seconds. I am thinking that it is the second case; i.e. the
vibration of the string whas so long, not the sound. So one can hear the
sound in the first seconds and then one see the vibration of the string till
its stop.
I think that this is the only interpretetation that can work.
In any case, generally speacking, this mean that these basses were very very
efficients. The elasticity only is not in condition the explain this
behaviour.
Mimmo
-----Messaggio originale-----
From: Jean-Marie Poirier
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2017 9:46 PM
To: Christopher Wilke ; Rob MacKillop ; 'Lute List'
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Aquila Loaded Nylgut sustain
The exact quotation from Mersenne is :
"...le son des grosses chordes de Luth est apperceu de l'oreille durant la
sixiesme partie, ou le tiers d'une minute, c'est à dire pendant que l'artère
du poux d'un homme sain, & sans emotion bat dix, ou vingt fois..."
which can be roughly translated by : the sound of the big strings of a Lute
is perceived by the ear during the sixth part, or a third of a minute, that
is to say as long as the pulse of a healthy man, without emotion, beats ten,
or twenty times..."
Amicalement,
Jean-Marie
--------------
Hi Rob,
What exactly is the quote in Mersenne about the 20 second sustain?
Although my French is very poor, I've attempted to find it to no avail.
Chris
[1]Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
On Sunday, January 8, 2017, 10:59 AM, Rob MacKillop
<[email protected]> wrote:
Here's a very short video comparing the sustain time of a new Aquila
Loaded Nylgut string and a Savarez copper-wound nylon-silk core bass
string.
[1][2]https://youtu.be/8FVJMk_Xjv0
My ears hear better than the microphone, and the useable sustain on
the
Aquila string is 4 seconds, while the Savarez is a long 8 seconds.
With the Savarez, you will be required to stop pretty much every note
you play in the bass. With the Aquila, less so.
The Aquila do remind me of gut basses. I used to have an 11c
completely
strung in gut, and these loaded nylgut strings are very, very close.
On the other hand...Mersenne says his basses sustain for almost 20
seconds!!!
I'll stick with the Aquila.
Rob
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References
1. [3]https://youtu.be/8FVJMk_Xjv0
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References
1. https://yho.com/footer0
2. https://youtu.be/8FVJMk_Xjv0
3. https://youtu.be/8FVJMk_Xjv0
4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
