On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 7:18 AM, David Tayler <vidan...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > David--I'm sorry if I asked you this before, but can the silk koto > strings be adapted for lute trebles?
Koto strings are too thick, I should think. Perhaps one can get a thinner set, but that would still be too thick. It's one size fits all, as the movable bridges decide the pitch. Shamisen (three strings) uses thinner gauges. These strings are stretched very easily, quite the opposite from gut, and are used at different pitches over quite a range. One even has to tune to a different tuning during a piece quite frequently. For my shamisen I have some silk strings - nylon too, big difference! - but never tried these on a lute. California has a lively community of koto and shamisen players, it shouldn't be too difficult to find some thinner gauges, silk strings for shamisen to try out on your mandolin or lute. David -- ******************************* David van Ooijen davidvanooi...@gmail.com www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
