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Hallo, my name is Daniela

how can I help you?

 

I can give you some tips on how to avoid issues with your gut strings, like unexpected breaks, inconsistent or misty sound.

We can speak about the quality of the strings or about which strings are the best choice for your instrument.

But there's more than this...

 

I worked with many talented musicians and I often felt the double frustration, as a string maker, to have strings which are clearly not at the height of what they had in the past, and as a musician, not being allowed to try, as we always have to be perfect.

 

The tasty fruit arriving directly from the farm is small, goodlooking but not perfect, with vivid colors and intense smell, and when we eat it we are surprised at how crisp it is, and the taste is so decise...

 

Music is exactly like this, specially when played with gut strings.

 

...but the risk is that we throw away the farm fruit to buy the perfect looking, insipid fruit from the big distribution. 

 

How to avoid this? 

 

That's where we need to take action: music needs educated musicians who dare to play on tasty fruity strings, and they can do this because they play for better educated conductors and managers, and for better educated audiences. 

 

This will lead to more freedom of expression, and we will all enjoy more what we do, no matter if we are making instruments, playig, or listening.

 

Does it sound a hard task? It's not, when we all want to enjoy more our music (and our lives). We have powerfull tools today to be in touch, to educate and get educated. Now it's a perfect timing to be different and change things.

 

Subscribe to my membership (it's free!) so that I can write you when I have something important to share with you.

And feel free to write me, I love to be in touch!

Thank you so much for your strings tips. I am amazed at how easy it was to change a gut string on a viol!! I used three of your videos and I did it! You give out so much fantastic informations for free. Thanks to you, we will have much better educated musicians, and in the end it's the music that profits. Thank you. 

Kate Walpole

Freelance Baroque Bassoonist, Teacher at UWA and WAAPA, Amateur cellist

Perth, Australia

The passionate interest of Daniela Gaidano for the world of authentic stringing, and her study and investigations in that field, have impressed me since the time I met her. It is important for today's musicians using period instruments, to be well informed about the different historic possibilities and best solutions for the instrument they use - I do not hesitate to recommend Daniela's knowledge and help to anyone who wants serious basis to refer to.

Sigiswald Kuijken

Artistic Director of La Petite Bande. 

Honorary Professor at The Hague and Brussels Royal Conservatories,

The Nederlands

There is so much to learn about Natural Gut String's, Daniela is a Fountain of knowledge re Gut String's any problem Daniela will help, she has helped me at Veritas with dramatic results.

(facebook post)

Michael Burnham

Violin Maker

Veritas Baroque Violin

United Kingdom

You know how important is for your talent

to shine through a correct stringing

Dmitry Badiarov

Violin Designer, Musician,

Online Enterpreneur

If I have a question, I post it, and I got an answer, because she's there, she's accessible

I am a violin maker, and I am an enthusiast of crafts, I need to do things with my hands. 

The only thing who could prevent me from buying was the money investment, but having met Daniela in a group for Violoncello da Spalla revival, I already knew that she's always helpful and supportive. What definitely convinced me is that she committed so much on trying to have more options for our strings, and also her enthusiasm for silk strings. She's always willing to solve the problem. I know she will help us to find more strings for Violoncello da Spalla, no matter what.

What I like most about the membership is the Whatsapp group. Being connected with others is what drives me on and keeps me focused. I like the fact that, if I have a question, I post it, and I got an answer, because she's there, she's accessible. I know that given her concrete experiences if I will ever try to make my own strings, she will know how to help, and she will actually be willing to help.

Other things I appreciated were all the historical info on string making, the fact that she personally interviewed those old string makers, the videos, the connections she has. And she is also a good communicator.

If you are a violin maker and you want to be accurate with gut strings and baroque set up, the big plan is absolutely worth the money.

Timothy McCluskey

Violin Maker

Berkeley, California USA

As an instrument maker of the violin family I found Daniela's service extremely valuable.

At first I did not know if this membership was right for me but Daniela has many levels of membership and you can try out the service before making the commitment.

Her knowledge, expertise and experience have given me a greater understanding of how strings are made and how to deal with problems that players might face. The content on her website is very informative and I keep going back to refer to it on a regular basis.

The monthly meetings are also a great forum where I can ask questions and receive customized help. I have the premium membership and I would passionately recommend this service to players and instrument makers.

Arber Makri

Violin Maker, Artist

Toronto, Canada

I have known for a long time I was in need to talk to you about my string thoughts and problems. But I feelt I needed to explore enough my self first so I also had a own opinion. After our chat I have come to a method that will result in my strings will last longer and sound warmer. On top, all of our conversation was incredibly giving and a pure joy. I would recommend all string players playing on gut to have some education from you. It's just so good.

Johannes Jakobsson

Barock Violinist

Stockholm, Sweden

Johannes jakobssohn

Having a dedicated service to know more about Gut Strings was helpful to add more specialist knowledge into my own instrument building, getting the best sound out of each instrument and providing the best comfort for each player.


...after all we are all here to improve our sound production by the end of the day!

Paul Shelley

Violin Maker

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Well-researched and appropriately illustrated, it is as concise as it is elucidating.

Many books deal with string players and their instruments but few discuss the significance of the strings themselves. Daniela Gaidano’s precious book provides an excellent introduction into the history and development of musical strings.

Well-researched and appropriately illustrated, it is as concise as it is elucidating. Musicians and non-musicians alike will learn much from her contribution to the pertinent literature.  As a layman, I found the tables on the historical stringing of the various instruments particularly enlightening.

Uri M. Kupferschmidt

Author of Strings and Celebrities: Hakkert’s “First Dutch Stringmakers” (Haifa: Pardes Publishing 2019)

Haifa, Israel

As a musicologist, I usually accept writings and books published on the Internet with a great amount of scepticism.

Many people is able to write an exciting book, but in a topic like the one Daniela Gaidano has chosen, it is important for the author not to rely on his imagination, intuition, or preconception, but to build his own story using only verifiable, factual data.

Fortunately, after reading the book, all my bad feelings were dispelled. Ms. Gaidano’s writing is an accurate, concise summary of everything you need to know about the history of the strings used on the violin family instruments. Although some of the information were known to me, there were many new data, which I was happy to learn.

Being a violinist, I liked most the chapter entitled as “Brief historical overview of the evolution of violin strings from the mid 1600s to the late 1900s”. I found it very refreshing and revealing, that the evolution of the four different strings are told separately and not together.

I liked also the “The string makers of the Abruzzo region” (although I would have liked to read about string productions in other regions), and I enjoyed the rich illustration.

As a last bonus, I found the tables useful, because they summarise the essence of the book in four easy-to-understand illustration.

This is finally a book that can be recommended with a good heart for anyone interested in the subject - be it a performer, a teacher or a scholar.

Zsombor Németh

Baroque violinist & Artistic leader @ Simplicissimus Ensemble

Musicologist @ Institute of Musicology, Research Centre for the Humanities (Budapest, Hungary)

Daniela Gaidano is very thorough and enthusiastic researcher in the world of early stringed instruments. Her endeavours have included visiting elderly string makers in remote areas to preserve memories of the old ways of string making, archival research, and long practical experience with Aquila strings, recognised throughout the world as leading pioneers in the struggle to recover the lost sounds of the old instruments 

Chris Goodwin

Secretary, The Lute Society

Great Britain

I met Daniela many years ago when she was a student of baroque viola. I was very pleased to share her sensibility and competence about making and using gut strings. Her passion is driven by the desire of empowering artists with more freedom of expression through a deeper knowledge of their tools, being the strings among this tools.

Enrico Onofri

Violinist, Conductor, Teacher

Italy

It was a wonderful opportunity to have Daniela over here in Tokyo lecturing us. I was impressed by her lecture that was so meticulously prepared backed by her deep knowledge, rich experiences and most of all, her passion for this craft.

Daniela’s first-hand knowledge in manufacturing fields as well as her extensive research experiences created a persuasive ensemble of technical data, stories and practical tips that lifted me steps higher in just a few hours.

She is also a one-of-a-kind lecturer who goes extra miles to reach out to the audience to invite as many questions as possible to make sure everyone goes out of the room with clear minds, fully satisfied. Being a novice gut-string maker myself, I handed Daniela my home-made gut string and she gave me loads of useful insights beyond my expectation. With her trained eyes, just one piece of string will become a treasure chest of knowledge.

Thank you Daniela, I can’t wait to have you back here in Asia.

Kenji Yagi

Parchment expert, lecturer and maker

amateur String Maker

Tokyo, Japan

I have studied an article about the manufacturer of gut strings many years ago. Then I met Daniela in an online mastermind group about bowed instrument making and I realized that her knowledge about gut string is profound and her experiences are so rare and also essentially for all of us who love the bowed instruments. But still I didn't realize that she was the author of that beautiful article until she sent me her CV for preparing a workshop on Gut String.

After we conducted 2018 Tokyo Gut String Workshop together, I'm convinced that working with Daniela is essential not only for musicians and luthiers who long to find a relevant historical performance but also for everybody who need a more colorful performance on steel and synthetic strings because studying with Daniela could lead us to a much profund understanding about the great artist in the past and thus change our attitude.

Takumi Takakura

Violin Maker

Director at Takumi Violin Making School,  Hannou city (Saitama prefecture), 

formerly Teacher at Shimamura Music Techical Academy,

Tokyo, Japan

This excellently researched book tells the story of strings in a concise and informative way. It is both enlightening and practical. I learned a great deal - every string player should own a copy!

Kati Debretzeni

Leader of The English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Great Britain

Daniela Gaidano's book "Evolution of Strings in the Violin Family"  is a treasure trove! The combination of historical facts and her years of experience as a sought-after string maker turns this book into a fascinating read and an indispensable part of any dedicated library on performance practice on original instruments!

Philipp von Steinaecker

Conductor

Artistic Director of "Mahler Academy Bolzano

Germany

This is an indispensable book for any player of historical string instruments. It is full of fascinating informations on the history of string-making, and answers so may of the questions we have on choosing the right gut strings

Alison Bury

Violinist, Soloist and Leader

Great Britain

Many thanks for the cooperation!

(autograph dedication on the book "The Rebirth of the Baroque Violin", 2011)

Fred J. Lindeman

Violin Maker, Amsterdam

The Nederlands

Avec un très bon souvenir et toute ma reconnaissance pour l'envoi de la publication de vos trauvant

 

(accompaniment card in a box of wine bottles, referred to "Splendore e decadenza dell'arte cordaia italiana")

Bernard Maillot

Président Savarez

Dear Daniela, thank you so much for your help with my gut string problem. Here are a few of my recordings which I thought you might find interesting. I hope to meet you in person some day.

(letter in a package of CDs)

Aisslinn Nosky

Violinist, Conductor

Canada

String Pitch Problem

Hi Daniela,

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I will definitely try out those options and see if it helps. I actually did soak my A string in olive oil but it was only for a week as I could not wait to try it! The other half of the string is still in the oil, so I will try it when it's been over a 

Thank you again for your help, not just today but for sharing your invaluable knowledge through your website!

Warm wishes,

Dechopol Kowintaweewat

Dechopol Kowintaweewat

Violinist. Zorá Quartet

USA

Concert successful!

We performed on Saturday morning and it was quite successful :)

Thank-you very much for your help, as you deserve part of the the credit.

Thank-you very much for your support and hope to contact you soon for a new project.

Jordi B. Paradis

Chorus Conductor

Shanghai International Choral League

Shanghai, China

Biography

Born in Turin, Italy, in 1974, Daniela Gaidano obtained a violin diploma with full marks at the Conservatory of Novara and, later, a diploma in Viola.


Therefore, she has approached the study of ancient music and contextually the manufacture of gut strings. In 2000 she started working for the company Aquila Corde Armoniche of Vicenza, becoming a partner in 2005. She built harmonic strings in gut and synthetic materials. She collaborated with the owner, Mimmo Peruffo, in various research fields. In 2001 year she attended the opening of the envelope containing the original strings of Nicolò Paganini, found in a drawer of the Genoese Museum together with the original bow, both findings showed cartouches with autographed writings of Paganini's son Achille. The photos by D.G. of these findings are published in the journal Recercare, vol. XII, year 2000.

Subsequently she carried on researches at the MIM museums in Brussels, Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, Ashmolean in Oxford, making measurements on original strings and instruments and collecting and organizing results. Particularly interesting was the experience at the Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome, where she had free and complete access to the entire warehouse and where, together with other technicians, she opened numerous boxes containing plucked instruments for a first cataloging of the material.

In 2007 she graduated in Viola Barocca at the Conservatory of Verona with a thesis in organology entitled: "Splendore e decadenza dell'arte cordaia italiana. Interviste con gli ultimi cordai originari di Salle, paese abruzzese d antichissima tradizione cordaia. Parallelismi e corrispondenze fra le fasi produttive e tecniche di lavorazione da loro descritte e ciò che si può desumere dagli antichi trattati o enciclopedie. Evoluzione delle montature per strumenti ad arco dopo il '700, con particolare attezone al trentennio 1920-50, tramite l'epistolario del cordaio Roberto Salerni."

In this thesis she collected first hand material obtained from interviews with old cordai from the Abruzzese village of Salle, comparing it with some treatises that range from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.

 

In 2012, in response to a request from the Turin cellist Antonio Mosca, who wanted something simple to explain to the children the changes in the sets of the bowed instruments in the different eras, she compiled some Tables that allow a quick orientation. After those she published the booklet in English: "Tables on the Evolution of Strings in the Violin Family".

 

She has lectured in Italian and English about the history of the Italian string making and the sets for bowed instruments for the Confartigianato of Cremona, the British Lute Society, the Spira Mirabilis orchestra, the Mahler Academy of Bolzano, the Shimamura Academy in Tokyo.

In 2008 she founded "Il Mercatino dell'Ukulele", (www.ukulele.it) that from a simple online store in a few years has established itself as one of the largest European distributors dedicated to this instrument, with a volume of nearly 10,000 pieces sold just in 2016. She also founded the brands Mahimahi Ukulele, Mahilele and Mahi Visual, deciding the specifications of the instruments and checking their quality, also through regular visits to the manufacturers in China. In order to create the foundations of an Italian market, she has been involved in education and training of teachers and has supported various social activities through donations of instruments and training.

Between 2009 and 2016 she organized six ukulele festivals in Vicenza and Caldogno: in a summer weekend almost fifty artists from all over the world gave workshops and concerts according to a program specifically aimed at increasing artistic awareness and musical culture of the audience, which is easily engaged by an instrument so handy as the ukulele.

In 2016 she decided to leave the company to be able to devote herself to her family and her various passions, including music and violin making.

As a professional violist and violinist with some important formations such as the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Orchestra Barocca Zefiro, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, the orchestra of the Arena di Verona, the Haydn Symphony Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, playing conducted, among others, by Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Sijiswald Kuijken, Leon Spierer, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Jeffrey Tate, Jurai Valchua and many others.

She is also active as teacher of Shotokan Karate and Self Defence Techniques.

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