Nylgut - obtained from the intestines of a riverine animal native to Egypt. Thought to be related to the Nauga. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:37 PM Subject: RE: Mike Godfrey - HEY!! I got my 10 Course back!
> Hey, I got my 10-course lute back with the fixed fracture in the soundboard! > > Okay, I've forgotten what a joyless exercise it is to tune a 10-course lute. > My fingers already hurt. Plus, the majority of my strings are nylon (pretty > sound...). > > I'm not up on all the string types, though. Everyone praises nylgut? Is > that part animal / part plastic? The lower strings on my lute are the > heavier metal/cable type. > > The nylon is buzzy at times. That stinks. BUT...most importantly, my lute > is probably under one thousand pounds of pressure right now, having been > tuned, and the slight fracture isn't showing at all! > > That makes me happy. > > The pegs are holding well...thank you larry brown...and at times, they are > so freakin tight, it really does cause finger pain to tune it. It's the > "closeness" of the pegs that make it hard to tune everything...one string > gets as pitch perfect as I can make it, and the next peg I go to turn, my > knuckle knocks the last peg. Plus, I have one of those pitch pipes...not > the digital tuners, so when I'm blowing a G, I also hear F# and A flat. > Reminiscent of Mr. Rogers' choo-choo train. This is distracting to the > point of screamed obscenity, and invariably, the pitch pipe is dropped from > my mouth and lost in the sofa...or one of my dogs try to run with it. > > It literally has been ages since I played, so I was sort of at a loss. > > All in all, I am happy. I DO REALLY need new strings. The nylon has to go. > Are "gut" strings from an animal? If so, what kind of animal? > > Also, the man that fixed my lute was amazed that it was built in 1983. He > could see Larry Brown's signature inside with the date. You kind of have to > peer through the rosette. Given it's good physical condition, and the fact > that it is almost 22 years old, he said it should last forever unless I do > something really stupid. > > Again, thanks everyone for the support and help here! I'm going to go busy > myself for the next 9 hours trying to get it back into tune. > > Michael Godfrey > > > > >
