Ed and Ed, I concur. I don't have the "time in grade" on the lute to speak of string life, but I do have other instruments. My 26 string double strung harp (52 strings in toto) was first tuned up about three years ago with nylon strings. I've had to change some strings one or more times (I keep a record of the when so as to know what is happening), and others retain pitch, and life, perfectly after the three years.
I think Ed Durbrow got it right "when they go bad". A gigantic steel I-beam for heavy construction may have a few weak points, and a few strong points (but obviously the weak link is the failure point). The engineers design for the average strength, with a bit of over design for safety. Strings are rather thin things, It would be an ideal world in which the string were perfectly consistant - whether gut or synthetic - from string to string, or more importantly within the length of the string segment. A string can be false "out of the box" if there is a difference of density within the length. Face it, it's going to happen. Your job is to recognize it and change the string. It is not the fault of the string maker, or supplier, unless you consistantly get bad strings from them. Even diamonds have flaws. Ed D., intonation problems at the several frets? Can happen. One or more weak points in the string can allow a bit more stretch at those points, which automatically changes the mass of that segment, and when you fret you take out some part of the overall mass of the string. Theoretically a string with a number of weak points could stretch over time to make it a bit flat at the middle frets and a bit sharp at the higher ones. But that would be a "perfect storm" of a bad string. No string is perfect as made, any more than any steel sword has perfection through its length. The classic American poem (19th C. I think, can't remember the author) about the One Horse Shay that was made perfectly. Every piece of wood was perfectly matched, so no part could wear out before another. It went on forever, until all the perfect parts failed at once and it fell into a pile of dust. Strings under tension will show their weak points sooner or later. For a musician it is better that they show it sooner and break early, or go "sour" early - then one can change it immediately. It's that sneaky string that seems ok, but not quite, that causes a problem. And I confess this comes from my harp experience rather than the lute. Changing 52 strings costs a bit of money. Best, Jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "uqcmeach" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "lute list" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 5:49 AM Subject: Re: Gut strings > >How often should one change synthetic strings? > > When they go bad. > > I was having the strangest intonation problems with a Nylgut octave > the other day. Certain frets would be in tune and others would be way > out. Usually out of tune-ness progresses up the fretboard. How long > are you people able to use Nylguts before they go false? I forget how > long that one was on there. > > cheers, > -- > Ed Durbrow > Saitama, Japan > http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
