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4. Complications!
Another thing affecting a lot our pure math is the arching of the bridge: of course low first (and fourth?
So, scaling tension is required
Plucked or bowed instrument: the big string offers more friction under the bow so someone may think a smaller string would react better. This is the idea driving modern strings.
I have to add that I experienced the opposite: a more tensed string allows me more colors and gives more support under the bow.
Fingertips, or feeling: this may be deceptive.
A small and hardened string seems stiffer under our finger, so we would like to have it less tensed.
But, less tensed means smaller, so it would hurt the finger more. So maybe we would like it bigger and softer? Uhm....
5. Conclusions: Be Practical!! So far, you can probably guess my conclusion: If you aim to follow the treatises you shall not give a letteral interpretation but a practical one, and admit that equal feeling, equal tension, and scaled tension, had the same meaning: the aim is always playing on an even instrument. But if we cannot trust
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baroque music, double-bass strings, early music, equal tension, gut strings, gut strings history, gut strings maintenance, gut strings manufacture, viol strings, viola da gamba strings, viola strings, violin strings, violoncello strings
The breaking index rule. The most important rule you cannot escape from (as far as you are voted to gut strings): at a given string length, a string of a given material, will always break at the same pitch, no matter how big it is.Mindblowing or intuitive? Probably both of them.Looking forward to your comments
Read More1. The Problem Let’s get started: the factors involved and their relationship: In our equation we have so many fixed factors, that we end just with a very simple equation: (at a given pitch and string length) gauge=tension*(under squared root and multiplied for a coefficient for gut’s mass). If we change one of them, the other
Read MoreHow a set of strings was composed: keep it simple! With only 4 “gauges” of pure gut and two gauges of silver wire they could cover all the strings from violin to cello!
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