Restringing instruments is one of those really annoying maintenance things that just needs to be done... well, when you have multiple instruments that you aren't always using from day to day... it can get put down the list of things to do... it is a bit stupid, seeing as it only takes a couple of minutes to actually replace the string (apart from the dámore sympathetic strings... which take significantly longer...).
Anyway, I had mentioned in my previous post (about being in the final stretch of purchasing a Baroque violin) that I was gong to restring the English violin (seen at the bottom of the photo...) to take some heavier strings to see how it reacts to the larger gauges in terms of sound and response. It is the sort of thing that is unique to each violin and it's particular set-up... so it will take some time and experimentation to find the perfect fit for it and me (and the bow...), but I was just going to use the heavier set up from my loan German violin as a starting guess... the setting that it has now is decent... but it is a bit light for my tastes...
So, that photo above is the patient list for today... mostly e strings (the thinnest string) that have suffered through the change in the weather (I use pure naked gut on most of my instruments rather than steel, so they are very sensitive to weather changes). 3 Violins and one Viola dámore need new strings... thankfully the violas were done in the previous week, so I have a couple less instruments to do....
Of course... when you start off doing this... you remember that one of the reasons that you procrastinated in the first place was that you needed to order some strings... I think I have just enough of the appropriate gauges for what I need today (I might need to scavenge a thicker 120 gauge d string from an existing instrument for the English one...), but only just... it is time for a string order this afternoon... I had better take a quick look around to see if I cleverly already did the order and put the package away for "safe-keeping".
Thankfully, it is easy enough to get naked gut strings these days online... plus, with the cross-border buying in EU.... it means that I don't need to pay the VAT (which is a pretty nice discount!).
In the end, all done within half an hour... and everyone is back up and running in playable and usable condition. I did skip the sympathetic string of the dámore... that just winds through the instrument and the thin sharp wire is hard to get through the multiple small holes... plus, I always keep poking myself with that one... and thin wires sting!
A little point of interest on the main playing strings of the Viola dámore. I have had mechanical pegs installed at the pegbox end of the instrument instead of the regular manual ones... they work on a sort of screw system that translates the coarse turn of the peg into a smaller incremental tension on the string.... essentially functioning as a fine tuner, but without the seeing it at the tailpiece end of the instrument... it's a pretty handy thing to have... as the Viola dámore with 7 playing strings can be a pain in the arse to tweak in concert... so the fine control does make it much easier to do retuning adjustments on the fly on stage.
However, it does meaning that stringing the instrument is a right pain... normally a few turns of the peg will get the string up to tension... however, with this mechanic.... you need to turn roughly 10 times as much... let me tell you,, that is really just not that exciting....
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