At first, I had a copper Gimped on 7c of my Baroque lute, between a
loaded Venice 8c and a 6c Venice. There was absolutely nothing wrong
with the Gimped string in itself, but to me close to the lute, it
sounded brighter than the surrounding strings (perhaps a silver or a
gold gimped might have been less so?).
$
Indeed, as you know, I have very much enjoyed your recording of the
Conradi with a strong presence of Gimped strings, which gave an
excellent sound.
However, loaded Venice have a very dark if warm sound, in spite of
their good harmonic behaviour; and I think they contrast more with
gimped than perhaps the first generation did. In deed, I would not
advise a loaded Venice between two gimped strings, either.
$
In relation to this, I have tended to use stronger octaves (than
basses) to brighten (and lighten) the loaded bass sound, slightly. I
really do think that works extremely well (like you do I believe?).
$
You are probably correct in thinking that a single string would not be
noticeable to a listener. It would give some of its characteristics to
its neighbouring strings, which makes it harder to hear.
I may have become hyper-sensitive to these slight tonal breaks.
Although I think most all-gut users prefer all gut just because they
want to maximise homogeneity of sound: I think this does remain
important to us for most 11c Baroque music (perhaps, a little less so
with later German Baroque?).
Avoiding tonal breaks (which ever string types we use) is therefore
perhaps just an extension of this.
Regards
Anthony
PS Thanks for drawing my attention to the Nigel North Weiss recording.
It is superb, never mind what strings he is using.
$
__________________________________________________________________
De : Edward Martin <e...@gamutstrings.com>
A : Anthony Hind <agno3ph...@yahoo.com>; Daniel Winheld
<dwinh...@comcast.net>; e...@gamutstrings.com
Cc : lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Envoye le : Lun 20 decembre 2010, 23h 42min 17s
Objet : Re: [LUTE] Re: New Nylgut test as Chanterelle
A few years ago, I saw one of the gold gimped strings. It was
beautiful. I have not asked Dan Larson about them for years, but I can
imagine that now the cost would be absolutely prohibitive. But now he
uses Sterling silver with the gut, and I can tell the difference as
compared to copper gimped... they do sound clearer and warmer.
I have never had problems in the past, with mixing various kinds of gut
basses. If the string vibrates truly and is the proper tension, I do
not notice all that much difference in the sound, if one has a good gut
octave. I think a person listening could probably not tell the
difference in sound, but the performer perhaps can.
ed
At 04:29 PM 12/20/2010, Anthony Hind wrote:
> Dear Dan and Ed
> Thank you so much for your suggestions. I am sure either
the
> silver wirewound or the gimped would work, and are both excellent
> strings in their own right. And yes, had there been a gold gimped,
I
> dare say I would have tried them on C11 and D10 (if I could have
> afforded them). How lucky Dan to have been able to try one of
those (or
> perhaps not, as I imagine, now, you will never quite be satisfied
with
> lesser strings).
> $
> Actually, I even remember that Paul Beier and Jakob Lindberg, at
one
> time mixed the old loaded and gimped strings, as well as Pistoys
(as
> Dan found he could without problem); but I don't think that works
quite
> so well with the low impedance Venice ones, which as we have all
> discussed, are harmonically very different.
> $
> I feel, because of this, a tonal break should be more problematic
> (almost from a theoretical point of view) than a slight tension
> inequality; even though I would prefer to avoid either.
> $
> Whereas, I would have liked C11 220C and D10 200C, I will probably
go
> for a temporary drop in Kg and use D10 190C (but with a slightly
higher
> tensed octave as compensation), or use a rise to D10 210c (with a
> slightly lower tensed octave). Until, of course, Mimmo can make
more
> loaded strings.
> These two strings were actually available (one at B&N and the
other at
> Wolfgang's).
> They won't be spot on, but I think it might be more the global
tension
> of the course, than that of the single string, which imports most;
and
> that will give me a chance to see if this hypothesis/hunch is
right.
> Thanks again,
> Anthony
>
__________________________________________________________________
>
> De : Daniel Winheld <[1]dwinh...@comcast.net>
> A : Anthony Hind <[2]agno3ph...@yahoo.com>
> Envoye le : Lun 20 decembre 2010, 22h 25min 01s
> Objet : [LUTE] Re: New Nylgut test as Chanterelle
> Anthony, I don't know if this would be of any use to you, but I
have
> found one (and only this one!) type of close-wound overspun string
to
> sound acceptable on my Baroque lute- and it is the one with SOLID
> silver, not silver plated wire. Until I can get the new loaded
strings
> for my lute, I will continue to use the solid silver overspun
classical
> guitar D (4th) string for the 11-C, and the (bass rider)
12-B/B-flat.
> For the 13-A I use a solid silver bass viola da gamba string, most
> likely a 5-G. These are all old strings, and although the viol
string
> has a gut core vs. the nylon floss guitar string core, it must be
the
> solid silver making them sound virtually identical; and they
transition
> acceptably from the Savarez KFG 10-D, especially played in
context, and
> paired with the right octave string, which helps mask the change.
> I would imagine that a classical guitar A-5 might substitute for a
200c
> loaded. Or the right viol string, probably a 5-G like mine. As far
as I
> know, only E. & O. Mari ever made the solid silver wound guitar
> strings, and I don't know if they still do. Viol strings ought to
be
> easy to find, however. The ends do take some labor intensive
> modification to go through bridge and peg holes, viols being set
up so
> differently. Just a last resort possibility.
> Dan
> > I should add that I am, myself, a little frustrated as I
can't get
> a
> > 200c loaded string for love or money. I really need this
string to
> > operate a tweak on my Baroque lute. I managed to find all the
> others, I
> > needed at B&N in London, or at Wolfgang's in Paris.
> > Yet, I quite understand that Mimmo can't spend time making
loaded
> > strings, and also get the NNG up to speed. There are a number
of
> > things, including gut strings, and the basic research, that
only
> Mimmo
> > can do; but there are limits to what he can do
simultaneously.
> > Regards
> > Anthony
> >
> --
>
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
Edward Martin
2817 East 2nd Street
Duluth, Minnesota 55812
e-mail: [4...@gamutstrings.com
voice: (218) 728-1202
[5]http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
[6]http://www.myspace.com/edslute
--
References
1. mailto:dwinh...@comcast.net
2. mailto:agno3ph...@yahoo.com
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
4. mailto:e...@gamutstrings.com
5. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name
6. http://www.myspace.com/edslute
