Dear Anthony, Yes, it is entirely possible to string a baroque lute entirely in gut. I have done that for the past 10 - 11 years, and enjoy it very, very much. The sound is lovely, but the "touch" is a bit different that one needs to adjust his/her technique.
I especially think the swan necked baroque lutes work great with gut, as the increased length makes it a perfect sound. When using metal wound strings on those long lengths, in my opinion, it sounds "tinny" or jangly" (no flames, please). My baroque lute (!3 course) has a simple bass rider for the 12th & 13th courses, but the sound is fabulous in gut. No, it does not cause extensive string damage ( exception - trebles). Some of my bass strings have been on for over 10 years, and they actually improve with age. ed At 11:19 AM 2/8/2007 +0100, Anthony Hind wrote: >Andrew, Edward, Stephen and All > I agree whole-heartedly with Edward's message, I am but an amateur, >and in a way amateurs have an advantage over professionals. The >difficulty with gut (as suggested by Ed.) is mainly when a large >concert room fills up with people and the humidity suddenly jumps up >(as we saw with Jakob Lindberg in London). Indeed, I can almost >predict the weather, and have no need for a barometer, as the change >in tension of my gut strings often allows me to predict whether I am >going to need an umbrella! > >I think a number of professional lutists use nylgut or similar when >playing in public, for that reason; but then when they record use gut. >Jacob Heringman does that, according to his Ed Durbrow interview. >Certainly, Jakob Lindberg has used loaded gut diapasons (explicitly >stated in his Dowland record) and his Rauwolf was strung in gut. Paul >O'Dette used to use gut on his Renaissance lute records when he >recorded for Astrée CNRS, and so did Hopkinson Smith. > >As an amateur, I can usually avoid these extreme changes, and if like >myself, you are not a very good lutist, you need all the help you can >get. A very well sounding lute strung in gut will sound so pleasant >even when playing a few notes. There is also the touch of the >strings. Gut strings react in a very different way even to nylgut. >The top strings are a problem and I must admit I recently compromised >by using a top string in nylgut. The cost (over a few years) on one >lute is not as bad as it first appears. The lower strings do last a >very long time. Of course, if you have a whole collection of lutes, >the problem is obviously greater. > >However, I personally feel that, on a Renaissance lute, gut is almost >mandatory for the diapasons (gimped work too), if you don't want the >bass "voice" to drown-out the higher "voices" (this always tends to >happen with metal wounds, or the player must constantly damp these >strings). If you can use gut throughout, the "voices" become so well >balanced, and the sound of the strings more "homogenous", I agree >with Martin that the 5th string sounds beautiful. It is of course >more difficult to make the heavier 6 and 7 diapasons sing, but I >think technique develops to help this, and at least you don't have to >keep damping them. Martin Shepherd (I think) suggested using a >slightly thinner diapason than usual and a slightly thicker octave, >so as to achieve the same overall course tension. > >I often hear lutes strung in fluour-carbon and I always feel they >begin to sound like mandolins. I do feel nylgut is a much better >compromise,. > >Perhaps, on a Baroque lute the situation might be a little different. >The much higher cost of the strings could become problematic. >Nevertheless, when I visited Stephen Gottlieb's atelier a couple of >years ago, he had a 14 course swan-neck lute entirely strung in gut, >and I must admit that the sound was superb. If Ed says gut is >possible on a Baroque lute, when I finally oder my 11 course, for the >French Baroque music that I love, I will just have to use gut. > >However, as yet, I have never lived with a gut strung Baroque lute, >so I don't know how great the problems may be. I am told that the >greater string lengths and tensions do become a problem and do cause >very expensive string breakage. However, the solution may be to use >lower tensions. There was a thread recently (I believe begun my >Martin Shepherd) about the advantages of lutes strung at low >tensions. It seemed that with gut strings, a lower tension was not >necessarily a problem. >I apologize if these issues have been discussed exhaustively over the >last years and I am returning to a totally worn-out topic. I fear >this is quite likely to be the case. >Regards >Anthony > > > > > > >Le 8 févr. 07 à 00:33, Edward Martin a écrit : > > > > Andrew, > > > > Actually, many professionals use nylgut - Paul O'Dette, Nigel North, > > Hopkinson Smith. I think (but, I am uncertain) that Rolf Lislevand > > uses > > them as well. I know Jakob Lindberg used to use them. > > > > I have my renaissance 8 course in partial nylgut, because I have to > > use > > that instrument under difficult situations. Otherwise, I mostly > > use gut, > > for vihuela, 10 course, baroque guitar, 11 course, and my 13 > > course. Yes, > > the tuning is sometimes an issue, along with treble string > > breakage, but > > the wonderful rich sound of gut makes it all worth while. If one > > equilibrates the instrument to the room, tuning works well. When I > > perform > > in gut, I must get to the hall 3 hours in advance to insure good > > tuning. > > > > Sometimes I regret not using synthetics, but gut is the most > > satisfying > > sound of all, so I stick with it. > > > > Someone said earlier today that the 5th course is a problem, but > > the Pistoy > > 5th is, in my opinion, the most beautiful string imaginable, for > > either a > > renaissance or baroque lute. > > > > ed > > > > > > > > > > At 01:22 PM 2/7/2007 +0000, Andrew Gibbs wrote: > > > >> Do any serious players use nylgut synthetic strings? perhaps more for > >> renaissance than baroque lutes... > >> > >> Andrew > >> > >> On 7 Feb 2007, at 12:02, Stephan Olbertz wrote: > >> > >> > >>> Dear all, > >>> > >>> the bridge of my baroque lute came off recently (ouch), but it has > >>> been > >>> fixed and I would like to take the "opportunity" to put new strings > >>> on and > >>> maybe switch to gut. Dan Larsons strings would sum up to about 360 > >>> $ (ouch > >>> again), Aquila is about the same. Does anyone know what Sofracob > >>> charges > >>> for a (13c) set? I couldn't find any information on the web... > >>> > >>> Regards, > >>> > >>> Stephan > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> 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 > > > > > > > > > > Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
