Interesting topic. This is maybe a bit facile, but I believe that the sound produced has a lot more to do with the musician than it does with the particular instrument or string material. OK an authentic gut-strung violin will no doubt feel better to somebody who wants to produce an authentic sound, but that same musician will probably be able to produce a very similar sound on a violin with modern setup and metal strings. So I wonder if the sound produced by an orchestra, at the time the changes were taking place, changed overnight? I suspect the old orchestral sound gradually changed to a modern orchestral sound as people became familiar with what they could do on the new instruments.
Bill -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
