drone string suggestions

[MITC...@aol.com]

I seem to be a wound drone string's worst enemy.

 

In the course of owning my previous gurdy (a Gotschy Phoenix DG) for 5 years, I must have replaced the d petit bourdon drone 4 or 5 times, and now (in the hands of the new owner, a friend) it needs another one. Sometimes they unwind at the tuning peg before they snap, other times it's at the string rest where the deterioration starts. Also the G (GC grand bourdon) drone on my new Brook 3-chanter is starting to unwind between the string rest and the crank end, and I've only had it about 5 months.

 

Meanwhile my wife's DG Boudet has had the same petit bourdon drone for 10 years.

 

What am I doing to these poor drone strings? Or, more to the point, are there sturdier drone strings that I should be using? I've been buying the silver-wrapped cello strings, but I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of sound quality for some durability.

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Mitch Gordon

 

 

 

[Neil Brook]

For years I've used and recommended Pirastro Aricore Cello C & G for
bourdons in D & d. They are a fine sound and treated carefully, last
for ever. You must take care to lift them off the bridge and lower
them into the required slot. Sliding them sideways is not good.

A solution to the problem would be to paint the string in the bridge
area with thin superglue . that won't harm the playing quality but
will stop the winding twisting when you slide it. A further option is
to use Savarez alliance strings. These are silver wire wound on a
solid perlon core. Even if the outer wire breaks, the core will not
and indeed you can strip the wire from the bridge area ( sealing the
cut ends with superglue ) and play on with impunity. The drone will
actually pick up faster if you do this.

The final solution is to get remote disconnectors fitted but that's
another story.

Snapping at the tuning peg is often caused by the winding not being
stripped where it goes through the peg. The stress caused will damage
the core.

[Bruno Fournier]

Hi,

 

just read this tip you sent, which I've used on my archlute strings when the basses start fraying.  Your reply leads me to a question concerning melody strings tuned in octaves on the HG.  I built my own HG a few years ago and currently use unison melody strings  .90 mm Gut tuned to G.  I have tried to experiment with octave melody strings without success.  What are people using in general? I have been told Viola strings at some point ( I forget which string from the Viola..) Would a Savarez Alliance wound string work? or a Savarez Wound gut? if so what gauge would you recommentd. knowing that the spin on the metal is not as tight as on a viola string and that it unwinds easily when rubbing against the wheel.

 

thx

 

Bruno

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Bruno Cognyl-Fournier

 

www.estavel.org

 

[Augusto de Ornellas Abreu]

You could try Corelli Crystal strings (synthetic core, wound) for viola (I don't remember if it's 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th - the ones that are G and A, I think). A set is relativelly inexpensive (about 30 dollars) and I've been using that for years with pretty good results.

Never had any problem with unwinding of the metal at all (but for on the bridge itself, because I didn't have an adjustable bridge back then and my melody string disengagement mechanism was not working properly, so I had to slide the string on and off the notch on teh bridge all the time)

Augusto

[George Leverett-Altarwind Hurdy Gurdies]

You could try lubricating all the contact points as well.  Take  graphite (pencil),  and rub it into the orielle & the sidewall of the headstock where the string touches / passes through.  This will reduce friction and let it slide more freely.

 

George

--

[MITC...@aol.com]

Thanks, Neil, I almost sent you a photo of my G drone off-list, to show how it's starting to unwind at the bridge, but you've anticipated that question. I'll try a bit of the superglue as you suggested. I do tend to slide them back and forth on the bridge rather than lift them and set them down. In retrospect, remote disengagers for the two drones would have been nice. (Let that be a tip to anyone buying an instrument from Neil, spend the extra money on the drone disengagers. And the chanter lifter buttons are nice too...I got one on my high d" chanter, and it's very handy).

 

I haven't had a chance to look at the broken d drone string on my friend's Phoenix yet, so I'm not sure what caused the problem there and whether or not the string is repairable. Seems to me I've been stripping away the winding and glueing down the loose end like I was supposed to. I was using D'Adario Pro-Arte d cello strings, I think in the 3/4 size. That's silver winding on a perlon core, like the Alliance. So maybe there isn't a bulletproof cello string out there to switch to after all.

 

Mitch

 

nwb...@googlemail.com writes:

For years I've used and recommended Pirastro Aricore Cello C & G for
bourdons in D & d. They are a fine sound and treated carefully, last
for ever. You must take care to lift them off the bridge and lower
them into the required slot. Sliding them sideways is not good.

A solution to the problem would be to paint the string in the bridge
area with thin superglue . that won't harm the playing quality but
will stop the winding twisting when you slide it. A further option is
to use Savarez alliance strings. These are silver wire wound on a
solid perlon core. Even if the outer wire breaks, the core will not
and indeed you can strip the wire from the bridge area ( sealing the
cut ends with superglue ) and play on with impunity. The drone will
actually pick up faster if you do this.

The final solution is to get remote disconnectors fitted but that's
another story.

Snapping at the tuning peg is often caused by the winding not being
stripped where it goes through the peg. The stress caused will damage
the core.

On May 11, 12:43 am, MITCHG...@aol.com wrote:

[Augusto de Ornellas Abreu]

As for drone strings, I like Crown cello strings

they are REALLY cheap and give a good enough sound for me. I have no idea where they are from (some say Sweden), but they are really good for what I use.

http://www.quinnviolins.com/qv_crowncello.shtml 

Augusto

[Scott]

Mitch,

I found that a major cause of the damage to the strings comes if you over twist the wound strings when you cotton them. If you are twisting them do so gently. Also, check the tail side of the notches in the bridge and make sure that there are no acute angles, if there are, use a file to round them.

Scott

[MITC...@aol.com]

Hmm, Scott, that's something I hadn't considered. A good cautionary note.

 

Recently I've started applying liquid rosin on the strings, especially drone strings, to make it easier to get the cotton to wrap tightly and stay on. Probably one benefit of that approach is to not be rubbing a hard rosin cake against the metal windings, plus using the liquid eliminates all the twisting back and forth of the string to get rosin on the sides and underneath.

 

I still prefer cake rosin for the wheel, but really like the liquid rosin for making the cottoning areas of the strings sticky.

 

Mitch

[ilga...@gmail.com]

See this page for HG strings:
http://www.aquilacorde.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=301&lang=en
Antón

[Augusto de Ornellas Abreu]

none of the suggestions had octave tunings...

[Barbara Currier]

My Boudet came with Kuschner strings. My lower g melody string was a D2097. I didn't care for that one, though I do like all the others. So, following the Hackman's sage advice for my little Bassot, I put on a Savarez Corelli Crystal Viola G wound on stabilon, instead, a very nice mellow sound I'm much happier with and which I got at juststrings.com for $9 + shipping. I've not had any trouble so far with anything breaking, either the Kischners on the Boudet, the Savarez on the Bassot, or the Corellis on both.

ATB
Barbara

[Neil Brook]

Hi Bruno

I work in thous, not millimetres for string sizes.

Your .9 mm gut is 35 thou - a good light g' chanter at 345mm scale
length. I like 38 thou for a bigger sound.

If you want the low d chanter , I was disappointed with the sound of
viola c which you'd think would work and found that Corelli Crystal
violin G (forte) works fine.

The d' above can be from 38 thou up to 43 depending how loud you want
it. Alternatively, Corelli Crystal violin d works well.

The octave above ( d" ) needs 25 - 28 thou low twist gut .
Alternatively, you can use my " Wonderstring " . Many players are
happily using it .

[Jeffery mayott]

hellow