At 01:45 AM 6/6/2008, David Tayler wrote: >I take the quill and iron it with a heavy iron, then shape it. >I prefer a slightly rounded tip. > >It's the only thing I iron, really.
My experiences with ironing goose quill, at least a split quill, have not been good. Perhaps other bird quills are better suited than goose or perhaps you don't split the quill before ironing. On the occasions I've ironed, the quill was rendered too pliable to impart much energy to the string, kinda like a Fender extra, Extra, EXTRA Thin...if they made such a thing. It just slid off the string with a slight "clack" and even slighter tone from the string itself. Part of making a functional quill is balancing its stiffness by trimming/sanding the curl from the point. The more curl that is removed, the closer you approach something like a single plane on the point, and the more pliable the plectrum becomes. If you like a stiffer plectrum, simply leave more curl. Ironing removes all the non-parallel aspects, so you are left only with the thickness inherent in the shaft wall to control the stiffness of the plectrum. >There are a number of other materials you can use, including thin >strips of polished wood. Again, a bit post-medieval, but the fine wood plectrum (specifically cherry) was advocated by the mandolinist Bortolazzi in his 1805 method. Bortolazzi was the dedicatee of Hummel's mandolin concerto. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
