CONCERNING
OUR GUT WOUND
STRINGS
OUR
PRODUCTION:
CLOSE WOUND
GUT STRINGS:
WITH PURE SILVER WIRES:
" F " TYPES
WITH SILVERED COPPER WIRES:
" A " TYPES
----------------------------
OPEN-WOUND
STRINGS:
WITH PURE SILVER WIRES: "
FD " TYPES
WITH SILVERED COPPER WIRES:
" AD " TYPES
--------------------
SILK
CORE- WOUND STRINGS:
(suitable for 19th C. Harps and 19
and hearly 20th C. Guitars).
Old winding machines of 1st half of the XX century
(Sant'Eufemia a Maiella-museum, Abruzzo- Italy)
...to
learn more: check at our FAQ
INTRODUCTION
The
earliest mentions known to us of wound strings dates back to 1659
(Hartlib Papers Project; Ephemerides: "Goretsky
hath an invention of lute strings covered with silver wyer, or strings
which
make a most admirable musick. Mr Boyle. [...] String
of guts done
about with silver wyer makes a very sweet musick,
being of Goretskys invention”)
and 1664
(John Playford: "An Introduction to the Skill of Musik...").
However, their
use did not spread out very quickly for some decades: in fact the
earliest iconographical evidence showing musical instruments strung
with wound strings (Violin and Cello) date back to 1680.
In
Italy, a country renowned for its string
production, the earliest evidence is from the year 1677.
According
to
Rousseau (Traité de la Viole, 1685) it was the Viola da
Gamba
player Sainte Colombe who first introduced them into France around
1675, but the most important English Lute and Viola da Gamba tutor,
Thomas Mace's "Musick's Monument", in 1676 does not mention them at
all. According to James Talbot's MS. (ca.1700) Lute, Violin and
Bass-Violin bass strings are still the usual gut ones, namely Lyons,
Catlines or
the "deep dark red" Pistoys. Only in the early decades of the 18th
century wound strings -both close or open wound (called, in 18th c.
France, demi-filée)- got the upper hand of traditional gut
strings, revolutionizing music making to our day.
Stradivari wound strings,
Museo
Stradivariano Cremona: 'Queste sono
le mostre delle corde grosse, quella che mostra (che) sono di budella
va filata a vidalba'
(These are the examples of the thick strings; the string that show its
gut inside must be made wound like the Vitalba's plant)
The Vitalba's plant
TECHNICAL
SPECIFICATIONS AND FIELD OF APPLICATION
We
conceived our "F" (close wound), "FD"
(open wound) in pure silver; "A" (close wound), "AD"
(open wound) in silvered copper wire type-strings with the aim of
recovering the typical materials and proportions of the wound strings
in use in the 18th and 19th century (round
wires, no silk between the metal wire and
the gut-core):
rather different from
modern
strings, as supported by
historical sources and by measurements
taken from many original string fragments in museums.
What
are the technological differences between modern and historical
would
strings?
Historical
wound
strings present the following general features:
a) medium or
high twist gut core.
b) round
metal wire winding.
c) no
silk
'padding' between core
and metal winding.
d) metal
wire of silver, silvered
copper, pure copper or its alloys (brass).
e)different gut/wire
ratio
than the modern wound strings.
Modern
wound strings:
a)flat
metal winding.
b) stiff,
low twist core.
c) silk
'padding' between core and
metal winding.
d)
employment of modern alloys
like tungsten, nickel, &c.
e)
metal-biased gut/wire ratio.
Hence
the
acoustical differences are quite
noticeable and interest both
dynamic
and timbric aspects.
What sort of wound
strings were in use in the 17th
to 19th
centuries?
Three
sorts:
1) Close
wound: the single
wire spires are tightly wound touching one another. It is the still
commonly
used sort.
2) Double
wound: a second
close wound layer is laid over the first one.
Because of the large
quantity of
metal wound on the gut core they were employed on instruments with a
short
string length but requiring a low tuning, e.g. violoncello da spalla,
5th
double bass string &c.
3) Open
wound: the single
wire was wound so that the spires would not touch one another but with
a space
in between equal or slightly wider than the wire diameter (see F. le
Cocq, Paris
1724); these strings were in use exclusively in the in 18th
century as
transition between plain gut mid-register and close
wound
basses,
e.g. Bass viol 4th, violin 3rd &c.
Hereby
we would
also like to remind you to use our "C" type loaded gut strings when
performing late 16th and hearly 17th century music; our "FD" and "AD"
types on French 18th Century-repertoires (3rd D Violine; 4th Bass Viola
da Gamba C); in the strictest respect to historical authenticity.
18th
C. open wound bass lute strings
on a Raphael Mest's
lute Coming soon!
Copia of the
Raphael
Mest's lute bass open
wound strings
- Copia of the Raphael Mest's lute wound strings on a
d- minor baroque lute -
Hear
their
sound
on a 13 course
baroque lute (712
KB)
-
Joahn
Kupezky (1667-1740), Portrait
of a
luteplayer.
In the original, the last bass string seem to be an open
wound
type -
- CLAUDE PERRAULT, "OUVRES DE PYSIQUE", AMSTERDAM 1680:
DETAIL -
-
VIOLA'S OLD WOUND
STRINGS. BRUXELLES, MUSEUM ROYAL INSTRUMENTAL -
-A.Gabbiani (1685 ca.) 1st
example of a 4th violin wound
string- -A.Gabbiani
(1685 ca.) 1st example of a 4th Cello wound string-
-A.Gabbiani (1687 ca.) 2nd example of a 4th Cello wound string-
- F. Puget (1687 ca.):
wound strings on a Bass Violin -
G.B.
Forqueray 1750 ca: detail close and open wound strings
Horemans (1770 ca). detail of a violin (4th silver/silver plated wound)
Nicolas
Henri Jeaurat (1756): detail of an open wound 3rd string
- Special
wound strings/lengths: on request only.
-
On
request: Silk-core wound strings
(with
silvered copper wire), suitable for the 19th century Guitars and Harps.
PRICES
:
SEE SETS FOR BOWED INSTRUMENTS
