Yes, varnishing helps, but doesn't totally stop a string absorbing humidity. It rather protects from wear and tear.I tried them. They sound duller, inferior to normal gut and are not historical strings. This is what MP writes about them on his website: "Gut strings are varnished in order to protect the strings from wear and tear. The varnishing of strings is not a historical process; the earliest samples of varnished strings we have found only date back to the 1920-30s. A varnished string has a somewhat duller sound and the attack under the bow is slightly more difficult and liable to whistle". When I use gut I do it for it's beautifull sound, so the idea of something that has neither advantages of synthetics nor gut doesn't really suit me.
All the best Jaroslaw Wiadomość napisana przez Sam Chapman w dniu 6 paź 2012, o godz. 17:34: > Well, there's gut and there's varnished gut. The latter may not have > been used historically, but it absorbs much less humidity from the air > and sweat from the fingers, therefore staying in tune well, maintaining > it's tone quality and lasting longer. That said, I've not had much > experience using varnished gut in concerts, but am now considering it > as possibly a good compromise. It's certainly closer to plain gut in > terms of feel and sound than any kind of synthetic string. Benjamin, > what kind of gut do you use? > > best, > > Sam > On 6 October 2012 12:26, Jaros^3aw Lipski <[1]jaroslawlip...@wp.pl> > wrote: > > No, it isn't a new problem. This is what Mattheson writes (1727) > answering Baron in his book Ephorus, naming disadvantages of the > lute: > "Because of the many strings, and special strings (gut-strings) > which depend more on stable temperature and humidity than other > instruments (to stay in tune)." > We don't know how gut strings of the past differed from modern ones, > but just one thing shouldn't be disregarded - gut absorbs humidity > from the air, synthetics do not. Why synthetics go out of tune? > Because of the temperature differences and bigger elasticity. > From my experience I can only say that after changing a Nylgut > string it takes quite a lot of time before it can be used for a > concert, however then it stays in tune better than gut. But > obviously it is possible to play a concert on gut strings providing > that it is not in a very humid place (or one with changing air > conditions). > I wouldn't mix gut with synthetics though, as each material goes > different way. So my advice is use either synthetics or gut > depending on your wallet's size :) > Best regards > Jaroslaw > WiadomoP:ae napisana przez Mark Probert w dniu 6 pa 1/4 2012, o > godz. 04:17: > >> >> >> Then, isn't there the old adage of lute players spending half their >> time tuning and the other half playing out of tune? This is not a > new >> problem, though I do believe that synthetics help. >> >> Kind regards >> >> -- >> mark. >> >> >> > >> To get on or off this list see list information at > >> [2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > -- > Sam Chapman > Oetlingerstrasse 65 > 4057 Basel > (0041) 79 530 39 91 > > -- > > References > > 1. mailto:jaroslawlip...@wp.pl > 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
