[Dixielandjazz] Broken Strings

[Will Connelly]

Whoa!

What's with steel strings on fiddles? I thought catgut was the stuff - 
except on basses, where I don't know what kind of gut the gut strings 
were made of but I sure know I liked them a helluva lot better that 
those twangy metal strings! Or I think I  did . . . I can't remember 
when I last  heard a standup bass with gut strings.

Kindly,
Will Connelly

Bill Gunter wrote:

> Tamas had a 25% disagreement with my post about stringed instruments 
> not holding their pitch when a new string is installed:
>
>> . . .  In case of the E string it pretty much stays there right
>> away. If the A, D or G string breaks, you are right.
>
>
> The e string on a fiddle is a pretty fine guage steel string and most 
> likely will stretch to its full limit in a very short period of time. 
> But if you're working with a guitar, banjo, uke etc. etc. That stretch 
> business will keep you busy adjusting the pitch when a new string is 
> installed!
>
> I've never had a violin string break while playing it so my experience 
> is limited to other stringed instruments. In any case, if I were in 
> the middle of a violin concerto and a string broke and I grabbed the 
> concert master's violin (I've seen it done with the local Sacramento 
> Symphony) I would be reluctant to reclaim my instrument in the middle 
> of the concerto right after the concert master restrung it. I'm sure I 
> would most likely finish the concerto with the concert master's ax.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Bill "concert violinist (hah!)" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
>
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