Bob Thornburg of Gourdbanjo (he makes historical gut strung banjos with gourd bodies in various sizes in a sort of folk tradition) bought up Donna Curry's inventory of Purr'll Gut strings--a limited supply. I used to get 2m lengths of 0.425mm for trebles for just a few bucks. Getting two trebles from each string made it a super bargain, though that gauge is a mite heavy (by .005mm). Alas, he has no more!
Leonard On 11/28/11 7:55 AM, "Anthony Hind" <agno3ph...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Dear Rob and William > % > Nice to hear from you Rob, I am sorry these banjo strings did > not turn out a success. > I remember there were gut strings sold at gourdbanjo.com, and they were > reasonably priced; > but I thought they had ceased to exist. > % > About these, Ed told us, "Purr'll gut strings is the name & same > strings that were sold years ago by Donna Curry. They were actually > named after Purr'll (her cat). Bob Thornburg (i.e., Gourdbanjo) took > over the sale & distribution of those strings." > http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/lute@cs.dartmouth.edu/612258.html > % > In fact I see they are still for sale (at least there are strings for > sale here, with the same name: > http://www.gourdbanjo.com/GBhtml/gut.html > Prices are quite cheap, and they do mention the possibility of making > string sets for lutes. > Donna Curry was of course a lute player. > % > I wonder why the harp strings needed to be water resistant. Are these > often played out doors, or is it a way of making sure they stay in > tune, by not absorbing humidity? > It could be very useful to have a detailed record of string makers and > sellers, and of the types of strings for sale. > Some of this can be found on the net at various string sellers web > address, but at a moment when some makers appear to be at risk, it > could be interesting to record the state of the art. > % > PS I saw your interesting post on photography, I also dabble in that > field, and the pseudonym agno3phile refers to that, ie preferring > silver nitate over digital (and not sheep-gut over beef). However, > having acquired some time ago, a Sony R1/Contax, I was rather seduced > away by its excellent landscape potential, and also its ability to act > as a note jotter of on going garden (and other) projects. Nevertheless, > I recently took out my old Rolleiflex, and I will try to give it a > nostalgic whirl. > % > Best wishes > Anthony > % > William, I may be wrong, but I don't think NRI actually make > strings. I believe they are an outlet for strings. > I think NRI used to make catlines ropes out of gut strings (and > possibly still do), but don't actually make the component strings. This > is what Charles Besnainou in France also does, although his "spring" > catlines are very different from those of NRI: I believe NRI made ropes > from dry gut, while Charles makes them from wet gut (rewetted), in a > special spring configuration. > However, as I didn't know of the existence of Bow brand strings, I may > also be wrong, here. > % > Apart from Bow brand, I now BELIEVE there are only Stoppani and Baldock > strings sourced from the UK; > but please do tell me if I am wrong. > Regards > Anthony > % > __________________________________________________________________ > > De : Rob MacKillop <robmackil...@gmail.com> > AEUR : Anthony Hind <agno3ph...@yahoo.com> > Cc : "lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > EnvoyA(c) le : Lundi 28 Novembre 2011 11h34 > Objet : [LUTE] Re: Pulling on your gut harp strings > I know these strings well, Anthony. A banjo company repackaged some as > a set of banjo strings for the 19th-century repertoire, and even called > them the Rob MacKillop set, which surprised me as we had not discussed > it. This caused Mimmo to cross me off his Christmas card list, but that > is another story. > The strings are good quality, BUT, they are heavily coated to make them > water resistant. This is OK if you strike the string at a 90 degree > angle, but for many it gave an audible squeak to each note. Some > players loved them, some hated them. There were not enough sales, so > the company stopped supplying them. > I would not personally use them as lute strings. > Rob > www.robmackillop.net > __________________________________________________________________ > > De : William Samson <willsam...@yahoo.co.uk> > AEUR : Anthony Hind <agno3ph...@yahoo.com>; "lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" > <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > EnvoyA(c) le : Lundi 28 Novembre 2011 11h35 > Objet : Re: [LUTE] Pulling on your gut harp strings > While English strings are being discussed, I haven't heard anybody > mention the strings produced by Northern Renaissance Instruments. > Anyway for information here is a link to their lute strings info: > [1]http://www.nrinstruments.demon.co.uk/LuSt.html > Bill > From: Anthony Hind <agno3ph...@yahoo.com> > To: "lute@cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Monday, 28 November 2011, 10:13 > Subject: [LUTE] Pulling on your gut harp strings > Dear Lutenists > Knowing that some of you use KF Harp strings on your theorbos, > some might also like to try gut harps stings. > Indeed, yesterday, I was astonished to discover the existence of > another small? gut string maker (well much in the way Columbus > discovered the Americas, as the company has been in existence in > Norfolk since 1905). > The name of the company is Bow brands (did they perhaps originally make > strings for bows and tennis rackets?); at present company director, > Carolyn Clarke says they are now specializing in harp strings, and also > that they are "probably the largest harp string maker in the world". > % > I am no "Royals watcher", but the article on web, also informs me that > these were the strings used by the "Royal Harpist", Claire Jones, for > a recent royal wedding. I did not know there was a royal harpist, but > It seems that the "Bow brand strings are used by Salvi (which the > article calls the Stradivarius of harp makers), who in 2006 made the > Royal Harp to celebrate after Prince Charles reinstated the position of > Royal Harpist" (perhaps as Charles is Prince of Wales, the harp being a > symbol of Wales). > [2]http://tinyurl.com/d6haflu > (You can see a film of their string making next to the article, and > also photos of string making here: > [3]http://tinyurl.com/cgaghfq > In relation to the increasing difficulty for gut string makers to > source good gut due to EU BSE regulations and "red-tape", Carolyn > Clarke is quoted in a recent Telegraph article as saying, "It's a bit > stupid. The gut is bleached and varnished in string making so it poses > no risk to humans. And why would anyone chew on a harp string?" > [4]http://tinyurl.com/bm2sluu > % > I hope this company is not having too much difficulty sourcing gut > (just severe headaches wading through the redtape), but those of you > who might want to try them out on your theorbos, or indeed your harps, > might want to do so fairly quickly. > Regards > Anthony > To get on or off this list see list information at > [5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. http://www.nrinstruments.demon.co.uk/LuSt.html > 2. http://tinyurl.com/d6haflu > 3. http://tinyurl.com/cgaghfq > 4. http://tinyurl.com/bm2sluu > 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html >
