Dear Mimmo,
I very much agree with you: if we are wishing to play early instruments
and aim to recapture as far as possible the sounds the 'Old Ones'
probably made and heard, then we ought generally to aim to use strings
as close as possible to what they employed.
I make a practical exception, however, by using your excellent nylgut
for upper strings of lutes etc since, otherwise, I'd spend a small
fortune on constantly replacing fingered gut strings as they break or
go out of true! Long theorbo basses don't have this problem and will
usually last for many years - hence why I think we should still use gut
for these particular strings
Keep up the good work!
regards,
Martyn
__________________________________________________________________
From: Mimmo - Aquila Corde Armoniche <mperu...@aquilacorde.com>
To: Lutelist <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, 4 December 2017, 8:09
Subject: [LUTE] unwound Synthetic CD basses for long diapasons: make it
sense?
Hello,
Some are telling me to produce longer CD strings for the long theorbo
diapasons.
Actually, I have some strong doubts: the tonal balance with the fretted
strings will became even worse; the sound, in general, will became too
bright and 'modern'.
The risk is that we will lost the sense of the 'fondamento', whose
sound should imitate the human voice and be dark, not too brilliant.
I know: many performers already uses long wound strings; at the same
time we know that the extended necks were introduced to accomodate
plain gut strings, not for denser gut/synthetic version of it or even
wound strings.
Actually, I would like to stay in the direction that can make of
support of the traditional Lute/theorbo sound, not in the direction to
destroy it making a sort of... elettric chitarrone (Lol).
Maybe things can be different if we are specking of these special kind
of invented short neck theorboes that are today whidely in use when
one must take a fly. We know how hard is to fly with a standard
theorbo.
These instruments has only an option that work: wound strings. Making a
longer CD for this kind of instruments can be maybe a good option?
Maybe making them of 1,40 cms max so one cannot install them on the
'real' theorboes...
Guys, which is you opinion?
Mimmo Peruffo
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