Well stated, David. The stringing question of material choice will never be settled. I am also a gut player, and I really appreciate the marvelous sounds that one can create in gut. Because I have a gig coming, on vihuela, and the weather here is so humid, decided to try nylgut on that instrument, so I put those strings on last night. It sounds terrible in nylgut, so I will re-apply the gut, and suffer tuning problems. I cannot accept bad sound, just because it is in tune.
ed At 11:03 AM 8/5/2006 +0200, LGS-Europe wrote: >Dear Henner, and others > > >> >especially throughout for the bass strings ( 7th - 14th course) after trying >two gut strings I found in my "stock". Gut bass strings are very expensive >and I think don't sound so much better that it is reasonable to pay so much >more. Only ><< > > >Take a step back and think about it: what a wrong way to economise. A >theorbo, like any lute, is an expensive instrument with a delicate sound. >Why destroy that with an inferior string only because it is cheaper? You're >nice theorbo will sound cheap. You wouldn't want that, because it's not a >ukele from the toy shop. You are destroying an essential element of the >character of your wonderful instrument. Furthermore, you are denying >yourself and your audience the chance to devellop a taste for what is an >essential ingredient of a good lute sound: gut basses of theorbo, they are >so great! The joy of hearing an orchestra with those dry explosions in the >bass section, unforgettable. Don't be fooled with the tin sound of some >cheap substitute string. You'll get used to it, that's the worst part. If >you go to MacDonalds everyday, you'll be fooled into believing they actually >serve food there. Don't fall into that trap. > >Leave your first string in nylgut or whatever if you don't want my recent >concert experience of breaking strings (though in the other 30 concerts so >far this year so far all went well), and use nylgut or whatever for the >strings on the fingerboard if you're afraid of tuning, sure, I sympathise. >But for theorbo diapassons to use anything else but gut is something I >simply don't understand. They last forever, quite literally. It is very >unlikely that you will need to renew them, ever. And there is cheap gut too. >When you have a lucky break with a well-paying gig you can buy yourself Dan >Larson's diapasson basses, they are superior, but untill then Sofracob will >do: around 15 euros for 3 meter of 1.00mm. Even fret gut used as diapasson >string sounds better than synthetic strings (and I know several players who >actually use it, and not just as a 'drive home' string). > >David - passionate about gut diapassons on theorbos > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
