William, all things being equal better harmonicity can either be achieved by a denser thinner string, or by a more flexible one. Carbon is relatively dense, and that is why many are using a Savarez 4th and 5th. On the other hand, as I said in a recent message, Aquilla is working on a more flexible NG string (which would also give better harmonicity, and be closer in density to an equivalent gut Meanes, such as a Venice). The advantage of using this with NG trebles would be that your Meanes and trebles would presumably be closer in sound quality (with less tonal break) as both include the NG polymer. This flexible NG is not far from being commercialised (I believe). Hopefully, Aquilla may also commercalise a loaded version of this string, which would then mean there would be an NG string for all the voices: Bass, Meanes, and trables. Regards Anthony __________________________________________________________________
De : William Samson <willsam...@yahoo.co.uk> A : "lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Envoye le : Samedi 26 Novembre 2011 17h41 Objet : [LUTE] String material and inharmonicity Dear Collective Wisdom, Up until now I've mostly used nylon for my lute strings and it seems to be the case that nylon can't be used below the third course because fretted notes will not be true due to the material being too stiff. I have successfully used ordinary gut for a 4th course without problems. I am also aware that high-twist gut, roped gut and loaded gut work well on lower courses, but cost a lot. Does anybody know how nylgut, 'new' nylgut and fluorocarbon behave as 4th course strings? Are any of them satisfactory? Or would wound strings be needed? Any insights will be gratefully received, as I am planning to re-string my 10c lute - I'd like to stick with synthetics for cost reasons, but would also like to minimise the use of wound strings as far as possible. Thanks in advance! Bill PS I have also posted this discussion on lutegroup.ning.com - apologies for cross posting -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html