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Why sometimes do we have to wait for our order at the string maker?
Why he cannot just decide to make our 85?
Sometimes planning a gut production is really frustrating: the gauge of the string is not only determined from the number of strands, but also from their width and from the twisting. The second is on the string maker experience and sensibility (more twisted=bigger, but we cannot change twisting to obtain a gauge, it would strongly affect the response of the string), but the first is depending from the slaughter house and it is not easy to check...
At the slaughter house the beef gut is cut by a machine in strands similar to the dimension of lamb gut and sheep gut, so that the string maker can follow the sources deciding how many strands to use to obtain a gauge.
Then, it may happen that from a bunch of strings he will obtain a huge quantity of 97 but very little of the best sellers 88 and 85, and the only thing he can do is to plan another production, which will be ready only in two weeks...
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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
Here is the video from the famous BBC serie “How it’s made” , recorded in April 2012 in Caldogno (Vicenza, Italy) at the Aquila strings factory. We tried to prepare everything to show them the whole process, but they didn’t want to film the smelly initial part. I’m the one who plays and who scrapes the guts
Read More“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
Read MoreOn the sensibility required to make wound strings Wound strings are a matter of hand sensibility and control of the string maker: even if a machine is involved, it is real craftsmanship to make a good wound string. The factors involved are many, from the quality and gauge of the core, how much it is
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