I play an 8-course, 59 cm lute, nominally in G (A c. 430), with 0.42 mm treble gut from Gamut. The strings may last a while, but fraying and the resulting compromised tone can occur early on. In some cases I can turn the (unshortened) string around and avoid bad patches near the nut or plucking zone. I would, nevertheless, prefer to change strings less often, but I love the sound of gut!
Thanks, Leonard > On Jan 19, 2018, at 4:30 PM, Edward Martin <edvihuel...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello Leonard and others, > > This is a topic of great interest to me, as I have played mostly gut strings > for 30 + years. There is nothing as beautiful as the sound of a gut strung > lute tuned well. Some have tried oils, resins, even crazy glue with mixed > effectiveness of making trebles last long. > > Of the few who responded, what they did not say is what pitch and string > length they are using. In my experience that is the utmost important factor. > > If you want a g treble at a=440, you cannot exceed 59 cm in length. If you > do, you can only expect short strong life. It does not help to use a smaller > diameter treble, as lowering the tension does not help either. If you want a > baroque lute treble of f a = 415, if you exceed 68 cm, you will experience > failure and short string life. We certainly can use any synthetic string, > nylon, carbon, nylgut, etc., but the properties of gut are that we must stay > in the formula or we have treble string short life. Some argue that we > “should” be able to string gut trebles at higher pitches than what gut is > capable of, but experience has shown otherwise. Although we can get a > synthetic treble at g = 440 at let’s say 63 cm, we cannot with gut and that > lute for instance should be at f, not g. > > My 67 cm. 11-course baroque lute is at f 415 at 67.5 , and a usual treble > lasts me 3 months. Once, I had one that lasted 10 months with heavy playing!! > On my 70.5 cm baroque lute, it only lasts a day or so unless I lower the > pitch to e. Then if I do that, it lasts as long as the other lute. > > So, if you have a 63 cm lute and insist on a gut treble, the pitch should be > f, not g at 440. Staying within the upper limits is the only way to use a gut > treble. Some people record in gut in that configuration, but they can stop > and change trebles as they fail! > > Another factor is what kind of gut. Gamut now has beef gut trebles and they > seem much stronger than sheep gut; some say beef is not as sweet in sound, > but I cannot tell the difference in appearance, sound, playability, or > texture. For me, beef is my personal choice. > > Ed > > Sent from my iPhone > >> On Jan 19, 2018, at 11:45 AM, Leonard Williams <arc...@verizon.net> wrote: >> >> Has anyone come up with a technique to increase the life of gut trebles? >> (besides switching to synthetics!) I get stray fibers very shortly after >> installing one—still playable but the tone and intonation suffer. >> >> Thanks! >> Leonard Williams >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
