--------
|
| >> Was silk [for strings] usable in Scotland, or is it too sensitive to
| >> humidity? It could never have been very difficult to obtain.
| > Do you think that silk thread - raw strands, not spun, would have been
| > imported?
|
| Why not? It's light and easy to transport, so if there was a market for
| it a Chinese silk merchant could have got the same margin as on spun fibre
| simply by declaring it to be Special Musical-Grade AA Quality.
In some things that I've read about the opening of trade with the
East in the 1200's, silk is one of the important topics. While most
silk seems to have been shipped as cloth, some was shipped as thread.
Strings for musical instruments is one of the standard explanations
of this. Silk strings are quite traditional (if expensive) in most of
the Middle East and eastern Europe.
Given their strength, durability and sound quality, finding them as
far west as the British Isles wouldn't be the least bit surprising,
even before shipping from China was routine. While silk cloth may
have been too expensive for the common man, silk strings use
relatively little silk and last for years, so the expense wouldn't
have been all that big a deal.
Anyone who plays with silk strings knows of silk's sensitivity to
humidity. You really want to arrive at least half an hour early and
open the case, to let the strings adjust to the conditions, and then
do your tuning. You want to do this with any string instruments made
of wood, of course, but it's even more important with silk strings.
There was a cute example of the strength and water-sensitivity of
silk in the recent movie "Shanghai Noon". This is a spoof western,
with Jackie Chan playing the leading role of Chon Wang (similarity to
"John Wayne" not at all an accident), a Chinese soldier posing as an
immigrant to find a captured princess. Much of the humor is based on
the "Stranger in a Strange Land" scenario. He and the other lead male
character (Owen Wilson playing a sensitive, new-age bandit) are in
jail at one point. Chon Wang takes off his silk shirt, moistens it
with their urine, and uses a short bar that's available by some
coincidence to wrap it tightly around the cell's bars. They then wait
for it to dry, causing it to shrink and bend the iron bars together
enough so that one of them can slip out. It's all rather slapstick,
and very funny.
Despite being a comedy and satire, I've seen reviews of the movie
that comment on it's being one of the rare cases of a movie that
accurately depicts the history of oriental immigrants in the American
West. Racism is rife in the movie, on both sides, and is a real part
of the humor. The silk bit is also an example of unusual technical
accuracy. Oriental soldiers have worn silk shirts for ages, for a
good reason. While an arrow might penetrate the outer clothing, even
if it's armored, an arrowhead usually won't cut the silk. So you can
grab the shirt and pull the arrow out. The silk will have blunted the
arrow's edge and retarded its penetration. You still have a serious
puncture wound, but it's not a cutting wound. With a little forced
bleeding to flush it out, your chances of survival are far greater
than with any other cloth. Chon Wang, being a Chinese soldier, would
have been wearing his military-issue silk shirt at all times.
Slowly wandering off-topic ...
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