Description
Academie Renaissance lute strings are designed for modern performance practice at a=440.
Renaissance Lute E-8 Gimped Gauges | |
Light | =1.50mm |
Medium | =1.52mm |
Heavy | =1.54mm |
This is a standard length (48", 120cm) Gimped gut string with a pistoy twist for extra flexibility. It is useful for those lute players who wish a little more brightness in the tone of the 8th course, or desire a gut string which is thinner than standard gut. It is made with a copper wire twisted into the beef gut, polished smooth. It is available with a natural or varnished finish.
Standard gauge lute strings are available in three gauges, light, medium and heavy. If you require other gauges, please order from the Custom Gauged Strings section of the string store.
Gimped strings were first mentioned in an advertisement in the 1664 edition of John Playford’s “Introduction to the Skill of Music.” The exact historical nature of these strings is not known; and the strings we produce are based on the descriptions of gimped lace of the period.
The Gimped string is characterized by the barber-pole or candy stripe appearance of the wire in the twist of the gut. The addition of wire into the gut gives extra density to the string so it can be thinner than a plain gut string of the same weight. The Gimped string, being thinner and having some metal content, offers a brighter tone and quicker response than a plain gut string of the same gauge density.
Gimped strings are gauged by the Equivalent Diameter system. This means that a given Gimped string is equal in weight to a certain gut diameter, but the actual diameter of the Gimped string is smaller due to the added weight of the wire. A Gimped string may be gauged at =1.50mm, but the actual diameter of the string is 1.10mm. The thinness of the wire gives a bright tone.
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