Gut strings: a thing of the past. Or not?
Women in Lutherie Conference 2021 lecture!
This video is a talk that I gave last year for the first Women in Lutherie Conference.
I realise now that the title may be mischievous. I was very proud of it, as it is straight clear, it includes numbers, and precise numbers, and I think it raises curiosity. I thought it matched all requirements to get not only a click but interest. Except for one “little” thing: target! With a title like that, baroque people may not feel involved. Instead, this talk, in my mind, was directed to them.
To luthiers in the first place, as I think luthiers have a great deal in customers' education. Then, musicians themselves, and baroque people in specific.
So why did I choose a title that refers to a later period? Because from the baroque era to 1848, nothing exceptional changed in musical instruments' strings.
Why is this lecture important for baroque people, being them players or conductors or managers? Because it explains why the set-up widely used in “Historically Informed Practice” was nonexistent and not possible until 1915.
What has all this to do with Violoncello da Spalla? Apart from the fact that Violoncello da Spalla is a baroque instrument, it may help us understand why we could have a wound second string, if we wish so, but we technically cannot have a wound first, unless we use a core of steel or super-modern synthetics like carbon.
I hope you enjoy this video. You may also like to check the Women in Lutherie website to see the timeline for this year's conference and book your ticket. It will be from 28th to 30th of October. And if you like free content (who doesn’t?) subscribe to the Women in Lutherie Youtube Channel: lectures from 2021 are regularly being uploaded!
Updates from our workshop
We are both enjoying our time at the bench this week, engaged in what probably are the two most satisfactory tasks: closing the soundbox and varnishing!
Very interesting. I learned a lot. But I missed an explanation of this paragraph: “Why is this lecture important for baroque people, being them players or conductors or managers? Because it explains why the set-up widely used in “Historically Informed Practice” was nonexistent and not possible until 1915.”
What is that setup in HIP and what was the technology innovation? Was it polishing the gut string?