Anthony,
As far as sustain is concerned I was rather talking about the bass
strings. Obviously sustain is related to the instrument construction,
but this is another topic.
PARA
I would not argue against that, but I would suggest that it was not
always bass sustain they were looking for.
There seems to have been a great deal of research attempted on the way
strings resonate, although the full explanations of sympathethetic
resonance come a little later, and we see all sorts of instruments with
sympathetic strings created (including Dm in which the open strings
that are unused do act that way), but this is not just to increase bass
sustain.
PARA
PARA
I also agree with Mimmo, but this does not mean that the differences in
lute string structure according to register means a less homogeneous
sound, on the contrary.
Different material has to mean difference in tonal quality. Homogeneous
means: 1/of the same nature or kind 2/uniform in structure or
composition throughout.
The other term is harmonious meaning: having component elements
pleasingly or appropriately combined. So real homogeneity is not
achievable on baroque lute because of technical problems you mentioned.
Moreover I don't think that ideal of homogeneity was valued in Baroque
era any longer to the same extent as in past. The only thing we can
discuss is smoothness of transition between registers. I agree that it
has some importance for French music, however German music works very
well on instruments with very distinct registers.
Here, I think we understood things differently. I may be wrong, but I
thought this superb string, with its magnificient behaviour when held
between the hands, was Mimmo's latest version of his Venice loaded. As
I understood it, the cream of Tartar was used to obtain an even
smoother loading than he had obtained before. The result is that a very
thin Venice core could be maintained, as a heavier loading could be
used, allowing the loading to be increased in steps on the same core
(just as the Dutch lute allows the same thickness of bass to be used
for all basses, by increasing their length by steps).
This would give an exceptionally low impedance (as explained above) and
a remarkably true resonance pattern, as shown by Gerle, Leroy,
Mersenne, etc:
I can't be sure because Mimmo's explanations on this topic weren't
absolutely clear, but as far as I and some other people understood this
was just a sample of transitional state of gut production after a
treatment with tartar oil (which idea was borrowed not necessarily from
the string makers) , however the string would be stiffened again in
later phases. Probably this doubt could be solved only by Mimmo himself
(I am sorry if I got something wrong).
PARA
I quite agree, a good lutenist can make beautiful music with
wirewounds, and it is true that it can be better to hear an excellent
musician on a lute strung that way than a lesser musician with loaded
strings. However, that is a little like saying (but to a lesser degree)
that you would prefer to hear a first rate pianist playing Bach, than a
second rate harpsichordist (when it comes to French harpsichord music,
however, I might begin to prefer the second).
No, this is just to say that many first class musicians choose wire
wounds or synthetics or both (in various combinations) for some reasons.
Now, you can ask yourself why. Probably for various reasons. But I don't
think that the main reason is they are cheap. Actually they posses some
musical qualities that gut doesn't, and it was recognized by some good
musicians. Whether you like these qualities or not is a matter of
preference, but it can't be denied they posses some valuable virtues. As
I repeatedly say, I love gut too, but it's for me just different not
necessarily much better. It is better for some music and for some
occasions. Unless new types of gut are invented that will surpass all
other string types I will use both.
All the best
Jaroslaw
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