My lute has needed some new frets for a longish time, and I've been
putting it off. Got the fret gut maybe 6 months ago. Well, I decided I
must do it. I looked at all the different knots people suggest, and
decided what to try. But the first attempt went badly enough to justify
my fear and putting it off.
Here are my questions from that attempt. How do you get any sort of
knot to tighten up with such a stiff, unpliable material? Should the
place where the knot is going to be be worked to loosen it first?
And how do you really get that nice melted lump on the ends? I read
that a soldering iron is safer than matches or a lighter, and that is
what we tried. But in all cases (iron or lighter) the gut seems more
likely to burn or char than melt into a nice lump. Its clear that these
knots really only hold well because the lump won't go through the knot,
so the quality of the lump seems important. Any tips on getting a nice,
melted lump instead of a rough, charred end?
Thanks in advance.
Suzanne
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