Which strings shall I try on my Violoncello da Spalla? (part 1)
Hallo, Daniela here, with a written newsletter for this week. If you liked the podcast version and the possibility to listen to this newsletter, using the Substack app you can have this article read by an automatic voice, which is quite good, I believe, better than me reading a text in what for me is a foreign language. As this is a bit of a techy topic, which needs a few “slides”, I prefer it in this format. I value your feedback, so let me know in the comments which version you prefer and if the automatic voice is usable enough for you.
The question I am asked more often is what strings I recommend for a Violoncello da Spalla and why. This is no simple question for me: I have been a string maker for 15 years, so I take it very seriously. Strings are the player’s voice (much more than the instrument), so they are very personal and cannot be chosen by someone else, maybe someone who has never heard you play!
The voice you want from your instrument is the first and most important criterion to consider.
For example, last month, we visited Alberto Vitolo, who plays an instrument made by Alessandro, and uses Thomastick strings. Naturally, he was concerned from the very start of his da Spalla journey about the high price of this modern set of strings, so I proposed to him an alternative, like the modern set by Eliakim Boussoir, which I like so much (and is priced at 60% of the Thomastick price). I got a new set mounted on another instrument for him to try, but even before he did, I knew they would not be his choice. I knew it because he enthusiastically spoke about his plans of studying repertoire from the 19th century and over, preparing a recital with piano accompaniment. He valued the evenness of tone throughout the instrument, especially the fact that open string notes are round and smooth like fingered notes; they are not “shouting out” as often happens on the violin. Each note is round and warm. This is achievable only with Thomastick strings at present.
Boussoir strings, instead, are rich in different colours; each string has its own character, and they are overspun with round wire which is flattened. As a consequence, when he tried them, he said he heard a disturbing sound in the background, like a whisper or a buzz, and this didn’t allow him to search for the roundness of tone. I admire Alberto because he is working hard on his new instrument and really finding his way on it. He is a violinist with excellent technique and he has been a student of the most renowned Italian teachers of the twentieth century. I instantly recognized that what he values in a string is what I escape from, and vice-versa. I cannot play without that “whisper” because it helps me find articulation and expression. And I quickly get bored when I play an instrument with the same tone on every string or register; I like small differences on each note; for me, these are colours and richness. For him, they are obstacles, defects to defeat! Thomastick strings are his voice, allowing him to express many nuances, while Boussoir’s basses are mine and for the same reason!
I heard enthusiastic feedback about Aquila’s modern set, but I cannot play on it at all; for me, it is too brilliant and loud. When I play on it, I am more concerned about managing the loudness than enjoying the sound and searching for expression. The people who gave this enthusiastic feedback are more than trustworthy.
It’s simply a matter of voice, the voice we want to have with our playing, and which voice copes best with our expressiveness.
Another factor you might (or might not!) consider is the repertoire you want to play and how you want to present it.
Assumed that everything can be played on Violoncello da Spalla, from baroque music to jazz, folk and anything else, the question is: are you a techy nerd, always looking for the latest and best technology to hear 3D sound, home theatre effects and super-clean and pure sound experience? Or would you rather be more prone to analogue experiences, to “how did it sound the first time”? Which is the more authentic and exciting experience for you? If it’s the first, buy yourself a modern set of strings, maybe upgrade your instrument with a bridge with an in-built pick-up, and start practising!
If you feel attracted by the second kind of experience, I suggest investigating historical sets and their appeal to your repertoire. You could be surprised how far a historical set of strings goes.
If you are a jazz player, you sure know that many bass players appreciate the sound of big gut strings for their deep and expressive sound. If you are into traditional folk music, you may be familiar with gut-strung banjoes, played fingerpicking or in clawhammer style. While violins started pretty soon to use steel strings in this environment, basses were often strung with gut, and the strings were not changed until they broke, so gut strings went a long way into modern times.
But how about “classical” music?
Trying to make it short, in the beginning it was only gut. The bigger or longer the string, the lower the note. And viceversa of course. (Tension is not considered here as we always speak of strings at working tension, of course). Then, someone discovered that “bigger”, as a concept, was to be substituted by “heavier”, and that could be obtained by over-spinning a thinner gut string with a metal wire. This happened around 1650. No wound strings before that. In any position.
But there are mechanical and physical limits to what a material can do, how thin the gut string can support a mass of metal wire (getting to a brighter and metallic sound), or, if we try to remain on big gut strings to keep the depth of the warm pronounce of gut strings, how thin a metal wire can be wound around a string without moving or breaking at the first stroke of the bow. So, for literally ages, only the G on the violin was overspun. By ages, I mean centuries. Nothing changed until the very end of the 19th century.
At first, some players, often performing in the open air, started to use steel e to avoid the many breakages of the thin gut (due to a decrease in quality after the introduction of polishing machines). In the 1920s (and never earlier), some professionals were using a covered D, but this was discouraged as bad practice, especially if a steel e was also in use. I always found the description of Carl Flesh the most fascinating about strings in use by professionals at the beginning of the 20th century.
The covered A, because of those limits of materials I mentioned before, was invented only in 1951 (and had scarce success).
Several years ago, I compiled this chart below to visualize and help implement this knowledge:
If you are interested in this topic and want to know more, at this link, you can find a small book I wrote in which I tell the story of changes in strings technology from the early stages up to the 1980s. I tell this story string by string because one invention cannot be applied to all the strings at the same time but only to one in a specific position. Only in very modern times, after the 1980s, string companies could deliver tech-uniformity in a set of strings.
Our next newsletter will happen during the carnival holidays, and I will get deeper into the many changes occurring during the 20th century. This will help me to explain why I consider the Violoncello da Spalla as a 3+2 (basses vs trebles) instrument and not a 2+3 and why mixing and matching between different sets of strings (historical and modern) is not good practice when you are searching your voice on an instrument.
Updates from our workshop
We had a super exciting week: on top of our work, which is going pretty well, we had examinations of our young judo and karate students, and during the weekend, we managed to get last-minute tickets for a concert of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Turin. We were driving there to visit Daniela’s mom and to reconnect with Jennifer Gunn, piccolist of CSO and long time friend now, when Alessandro said: “I’m so sad we cannot stay for the concert”. That concert was sold out since months. So I had another look at the website, and the red button “Buy tickets” was now green, so I clicked, and there we were! How exciting!
Featured video of the week
Music composed today in the style of the past. Beautiful music! Enjoy! (In the pic Aquila modern set)
