[LUTE] New Nylgut test as Chanterelle
Dear luthenists Since I believe many gut users will be tempted to use the New NG for Chanterelles on their lutes, I decided to test them that way, while keeping all my other strings in gut : my trebles in pure Aquila gut, my Meanes as Venices, and my bases loaded with mostly Venice octaves. $ I therefore put a 0.44 NG on my 70cm 11c Warwick at 407Hz, and a 42 NG on my 60cm 7c Gerle at 440Hz. $ I only have slight direct playing experience with the old nylgut, as I have mostly used all gut; so my comparison has to be mainly with treble gut (brightish: Aquila, Keurschner, softer: Baldock and darker: Gamut, and of course Sofracob). $ However, I have heard NG on many other people's lutes, and tend to find them coldish sounding (bluish transistor-like), particularly when a lutenist uses them with warm loaded basses (reddish valve-like). $ When I first looked at the New Nylgut, just as Ed Martin has reported, [1]http://www.mail-archive.com/baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu/msg02195.h tml my initial impression was that the feel was much better than the old nylgut, and that the colour was closer to gut, although still slightly whiter than Aquila gut, but certainly nothing noticeable at, say, a meter's distance. $ I was a little surprised when setting light to the end of the string (as one does) to find that it broke into flame. I swiftly put it out, and all was well (I dare say that is always what happens with synthetics), a little ball had formed without splitting the string as sometimes happens with gut. $ The second surprise was when I started to raise the tension of the 44NG on the 70cm lute. There was a sudden stretch, with quite a few extra turns of the peg (compared with gut), before some stabilisation set-in. I wondered about this, as it had been said that the new string was less flexible than the old Nylgut. In fact, I didn't notice this so much with the 42NG on the 60cm lute. However, in both cases, when the string has finally stabilised, it did feel about as stiff as gut (and certainly stiffer than the old nylgut). $ I think Ed is quite right to have left his New Nylgut strings to settle for a day and a night before testing them. I put the chanterelle on in the morning, and tried it out on the 70cm lute in the afternoon. My initial impression was of loudness, as mentionned by Ed, but with a slightly over-bright sound, and more surface noise pick up than on the older lower gut trebles. This, however had more or less dissappeared by the second day. The string remains fairly bright yet warmer than the Old Nylgut, but with excellent sustain. I now feel it blends in rather well with the lower gut Aquila trebles. $ I have often remarked that a string can lend its qualities and defects to surrounding strings, but I hadn't noticed to what extent this was true of a chanterelle. All the treble strings, particularly on my Renaissance lute, seemed to have gained slightly in sustain and dynamics from the new string. I liked this, but some may prefer a slightly duller sound. $ The string seems about as stiff under the finger as an Aquila gut top string; and I would hazard a guess that it is this string ideal (his strong treble) that Mimmo was striving to achieve, with a good strong clear sound. Now I wonder whether it would blend in quite so well with softer Gamut or Baldock lower trebles? $ I noticed that the 70cm string took longer to stabilze than the 60cm one. I don't know whether that was due to the difference in length or in thickness, but two days is not very long, and lutenists do have to be patient. It was confirmed for me by a serious nylgut user that this new string does stabilise quicker than the Old Nylgut. $ I personally thought there was quite a big difference between the old and the new type, and this would seem to be the opinion of some other gut users (Ed and a neighbour who tried my two lutes). However, nylgut users (and lovers), from discussions on the net, do not seem to be quite so conscious of the difference. One serious Nylgut user told me that they were about 97% the same as the old nylgut, but with better colour and stability, as well as greater clarity on the top string. Gut users probably have different expectations of a string, and I feel that the New Nylgut, at least as a chanterelle, gets closer to my ideal than the old one did. This is my opinion, based on my own string experience, which will evidently vary from player to player. $ In short, Mimmo seems to have combined his skills as a chemical engineer with his extensive historical string knowledge, to come quite close to his ideal strong gut treble, in accordance with his historical string theory set out on his web pages: it is clear, strong and
[LUTE] New Nylgut test as Chanterelle
Dear luthenists Since I believe many gut users will be tempted to use the New NG for Chanterelles on their lutes, I decided to test them that way, while keeping all my other strings in gut : my trebles in pure Aquila gut, my Meanes as Venices, and my bases loaded with mostly Venice octaves. $ I therefore put a 0.44 NG on my 70cm 11c Warwick at 407Hz, and a 42 NG on my 60cm 7c Gerle at 440Hz. $ I only have slight direct playing experience with the old nylgut, as I have mostly used all gut; so my comparison has to be mainly with treble gut (brightish: Aquila, Keurschner, softer: Baldock and darker: Gamut, and of course Sofracob). $ However, I have heard NG on many other people's lutes, and tend to find them coldish sounding (bluish transistor-like), particularly when a lutenist uses them with warm loaded basses (reddish valve-like). $ When I first looked at the New Nylgut, just as Ed Martin has reported, [1]http://www.mail-archive.com/baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu/msg02195.h tml my initial impression was that the feel was much better than the old nylgut, and that the colour was closer to gut, although still slightly whiter than Aquila gut, but certainly nothing noticeable at, say, a meter's distance. $ I was a little surprised when setting light to the end of the string (as one does) to find that it broke into flame. I swiftly put it out, and all was well (I dare say that is always what happens with synthetics), a little ball had formed without splitting the string as sometimes happens with gut. $ The second surprise was when I started to raise the tension of the 44NG on the 70cm lute. There was a sudden stretch, with quite a few extra turns of the peg (compared with gut), before some stabilisation set-in. I wondered about this, as it had been said that the new string was less flexible than the old Nylgut. In fact, I didn't notice this so much with the 42NG on the 60cm lute. However, in both cases, when the string has finally stabilised, it did feel about as stiff as gut (and certainly stiffer than the old nylgut). $ I think Ed is quite right to have left his New Nylgut strings to settle for a day and a night before testing them. I put the chanterelle on in the morning, and tried it out on the 70cm lute in the afternoon. My initial impression was of loudness, as mentionned by Ed, but with a slightly over-bright sound, and more surface noise pick up than on the older lower gut trebles. This, however had more or less dissappeared by the second day. The string remains fairly bright yet warmer than the Old Nylgut, but with excellent sustain. I now feel it blends in rather well with the lower gut Aquila trebles. $ I have often remarked that a string can lend its qualities and defects to surrounding strings, but I hadn't noticed to what extent this was true of a chanterelle. All the treble strings, particularly on my Renaissance lute, seemed to have gained slightly in sustain and dynamics from the new string. I liked this, but some may prefer a slightly duller sound. $ The string seems about as stiff under the finger as an Aquila gut top string; and I would hazard a guess that it is this string ideal (his strong treble) that Mimmo was striving to achieve, with a good strong clear sound. Now I wonder whether it would blend in quite so well with softer Gamut or Baldock lower trebles? $ I noticed that the 70cm string took longer to stabilze than the 60cm one. I don't know whether that was due to the difference in length or in thickness, but two days is not very long, and lutenists do have to be patient. It was confirmed for me by a serious nylgut user that this new string does stabilise quicker than the Old Nylgut. $ I personally thought there was quite a big difference between the old and the new type, and this would seem to be the opinion of some other gut users (Ed and a neighbour who tried my two lutes). However, nylgut users (and lovers), from discussions on the net, do not seem to be quite so conscious of the difference. One serious Nylgut user told me that they were about 97% the same as the old nylgut, but with better colour and stability, as well as greater clarity on the top string. Gut users probably have different expectations of a string, and I feel that the New Nylgut, at least as a chanterelle, gets closer to my ideal than the old one did. This is my opinion, based on my own string experience, which will evidently vary from player to player. $ In short, Mimmo seems to have combined his skills as a chemical engineer with his extensive historical string knowledge, to come quite close to his ideal strong gut treble, in accordance with his historical string theory set out on his web pages: it is clear, strong and
