My only experience is with his first generation loadeds from some years ago. I still have one in use as the 7th course fundamental on my Chambure copy (yes, a 7 course vihuela) and it's absolutely fine. I got one (!) pair of matching loadeds for the unison 6th that were enough in tune with each other up the 5th fret and almost tolerable to the 7th, but in the end slight falseness- in relation to each other- and the buzzing caused me to drop them. In my case, unisons could be expected to buzz pretty easily. The 7th course w/octave string is no problem. For the 6 and 5, I am finding Dan Larson's pistoys to be entirely satisfactory. Also for the 7th course fundamental at F on my new Larson 8 course- but I miss the clarity of the loaded gut which his Pistoys do not quite equal yet for a low D- I may rob the vihuela of that remaining loaded gut for the 8th on the lute, as I am playing it a lot more than my other instruments.
I am surprised that you can make loaded gut work as high as the 5th course; I found them to be too bright, and impossible to get unisons that were in tune with each other. But so far nothing beats them for diapasons on single pegbox lutes of 9 to 13 courses. Didn't notice any tension requirements different from my other strings; and I string light- almost as light as Toyohiko, but not quite. Are you using his new generation loadeds, or still using old survivors? Dan >A question for experiences of other users of loaded guts from Aquila. >I've used them on courses five, six and seven of a 61cm lute at 30 to >33N (around 3kg, if you prefer). >I love the sound: gutsy yet with a bite without being metallic. But >they buzz. I tend to have a heavy thumb, so I first blamed myself. >Soon I discovered it was not my thumb but string buzz against frets >because these strings are so flexible. Before the latest concert on >this instrument I decided to change all the frets to get rid of the >buzzing (steeper incline from highest to lowest fret, whatever to get >rid of the buzzing). But with only the first fret (thick one!) in >place I discovered the strings buzz high up on the fingerboard even >without other frets, so no scheme of fretting would have helped. >I have a similar problem with a loaded gut string on my theorbo >(single string six). But here an extreme fretting scheme seems to keep >the buzzing mostly under control. > >I get the impression Mimmo prefers to see his strings used under a >higher tension and I get the impression these strings are better >suited as non-fretted strings (B-lute 7 and down or the short >extension of attiorbatos), which would both reduce the risks of >buzzing. >But still, these are nice strings to use on the fingerboard. Any >people with (dis)similar experiences? Any comments welcome. > >David - like dt's expression TFZ but regrets to say Mille Regrets is >supposedly not written by Josquin, likes Karamazov's Bosnian fado but >gets an occasional admonition to get rid of his own tics and facial >expressions yet also has fans who enjoy these facial expressions face >during concerts and other people who approach him after concerts only >to tell how fascinating his eyebrows were and who never mention the >music he played - still, it makes a living -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
