Ed, as you know I have gone through phases of experimentation with gut on my barqoue lutes. Even though we both live in cold climes, I have not been successful keeping gut easily in tune, at least not on my bass rider. With my limited time to practice, it is simply not possible to spend a good chunk of time tuning. Also, and I know this is sacrilege, I don't find the sound difference to be worth it to me. I think that gut requires a different right hand technique to sound at it's best and too often I have heard gut played poorly with I suppose the implicit message being "well it's on gut, so it must sound great and be authentic". OTOH, I'm not criticizing anyone who spends the time and effort to make a fully gut strung instrument sound great and I've heard that many times too (eg. Earl Christy at LSA, the recent luteduo videos and of course YOU Ed).

I'm not a recording or performance artist and even with the occasional amateur concert or youtube video I'm pretty much playing for my own enjoyment, so this is what has worked for me so far. Having said that, I am interested in new developments in gut technology and always willing to try something new, once it has been vetted by the gut experts on the cutting edge. What has peaked my interest again is this swan neck discussion. I love the volume and balance of the Jauch but don't want to devote my RH thumb to damping every bass I strike. That's why the idea of a Jauch with long thick gut basses and "best current technology" trebles is appealing. For crying out loud, I'm down to only 4 instruments at the moment!

Danny
www.dshoskes.com
www.youtube.com/kidneykutter

On Dec 2, 2007, at 9:41 AM, Edward Martin wrote:

Why not stringing it all in gut?

ed

At 08:36 AM 12/2/2007 -0500, Daniel Shoskes wrote:
That is what I find interesting though. Long gut strings seem to be
much more stable in terms of keeping in tune (and getting them
there). I like the idea of long guts in the basses of a Jauch and
then nylgut and KF for the fingerboard strings.



Edward Martin
2817 East 2nd Street
Duluth, Minnesota  55812
e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
voice:  (218) 728-1202




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