Varnished strings

"I couldn't play without varnished strings. Yes, I know they are not historically correct, but there is no other way for me, as my hands are so sweaty and I am so busy, that I move from hard air-conditioned to hot and humid environments even trice per day."

Is this familiar to you? I hear this so often...

The fact that varnished strings are not historically correct is, in my opinion, of secondary importance. It's not the only thing in a musician daily routine to be historically "imprecise", and it may be not the most important.

The most important thing I believe, for us all, is the music which comes out of it.

I didn't write this report because I sell not varnished strings, neither I sell oil. The reason why I wrote this is because I firmly believe that a varnished string is a string which has been castrated in many ways during its production, and it is far from giving us the service we expect from it. Even worst, if you don't know this, you don't see what you are missing.

You may not need a better violin. You may spend practising the half the time you spend now and have more free time for research or to enjoy life. You may forget the frustration of a string breaking unpredictably. You may save a lot of money, as you may have strings lasting much longer! 

Download this 20 pages report to learn the secrets of a Varnished String: it's free for you, with many thanks for your interest in my work.

Ps: there are many drawings in this report: they are just silly stick figures drawings, but I enjoyed drawing them, so I hope you will like their simplicity and enjoy them too.

Pps: I'd love to hear from you, so write a comment below or write me a mail at gutstringsexpert@danielagaidano.com


Tags

baroque music, double-bass strings, early music, gut strings, gut strings history, gut strings maintenance, gut strings manufacture, viol strings, viola da gamba strings, viola strings, violin strings, violoncello strings


You may also like

Which gut did they use?

Not only sheeps or lambs… you will be surprised to learn! My sources for this video are the letters of Roberto Salerni, the interviews to the old string makers in Salle, and Labarraque “Nuovo dizionario universale tecnologico delle arti e dei mestieri…”, “Minugiaio”, Venezia 1823

Read More

Equal feeling, equal tension – part 5

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

Read More

Mersenne’s test

Listen to the sound of your strings before even using them! Described from Marin Mersenne in Harmonie Universelle (1636), this test is used by string-makers to check if the string is even or false, by watching if the fuse of the string is regular or not. But there’s something more for a sensible musician: try

Read More