zbd1960

Winding the string onto the peg is a real pain. Some strings you need to trim the length, others don't need it, and you can't always tell which do or don't until you've tried it sometimes. The bend you put in the end comes in handy as it helps with getting the string through the hole in the peg. It is easier to work from the nut end up, i.e. go string 6, 5, 4 then 1, 2, 3. I got 6,5,4 right, but forgot for the top 3, which made life unnecessarily difficult... Good practice is to put the first wind of the string 'past' the hole in the peg, then wind it so it comes back over the hole. If you're lucky (fat chance) it will trap the short tail of the string and bed it nicely under the turns... if only... Strings 5 and 6 are hard going due to being metal wound. The other string have a different issue: they do not come supplied with a loop. You have to create one. This is done by bending the end of the string then twisting the tail around the string. You don't need to put a knot in it. In theory... when you tighten the string it will all snug up tightly. At this point I need to make a confession - mea culpa... String #4 is the F string. It's not heavy enough to warrant being metal wound, but plain just isn't really up to it. You can get high twist gut strings made by twisting several thinner strands together. Another option, used here, is to have a single wire 'thread' which winds around the string in a spiral. I wanted the silver wire one, but they were out of stock, so this is copper. There's only £3 difference in cost. The 'mea culpa' is my pile of string envelopes was mis-sorted and I initially put string #3 in as #4... I realised when I got the wire wound out of the packet to start on #3... You can see in the photo that #4 has the wrong string on it... It all got sorted a few minutes later, just annoying.

There are a few things to think about when changing the strings, unlike a guitar, you cannot just remove all the strings as you risk the sound post falling over (same as with a violin). So you have to change one at a time. The new strings are coiled. You have to be careful handling them - you have to avoid putting a kink in the string as it will just snap at that point either as soon as you tune it up, or at some point later. Even if it doesn't snap, it will make the string sound 'false', i.e. it will not be in tune with itself - intonation will be off. I started the re-stringing at the bottom with string #6, the low G. This is a metal wound string with a gut core. The metal wounds strings have a loop, which simplifies matters. I used a pair of pliers to put a bend in the last few cm of the string to make it easier to get it into the tailpiece. You then carefully pull the string through then pass the end through the loop and tighten. It's not an issue with wire wound string, but with the plain gut ones, you have to be careful not to abrade the string on the hole in the tailpiece. Before going further, I use a soft 2B pencil to lubricate the bridge and nut string slots. The graphite in the pencil works quite well as a lubricant to stop the string catching. I can then pull the string through the loop and move onto the pain of winding it onto the peg...

OK - a series of posts about re-stringing a tenor viol (aka viola da gamba). The tenor viol in terms of pitch sits half-way between a modern cello and viola, with its lowest string being the G on the bottom of the bass clef. Strings are sold (generally) by their diameter and tension and inconveniently are not labelled as say "Tenor Viol string 6 - G", but at "2.50mm". This is because the same stirng might be used for stringing a lute, or another size of viol. You can end up making mistakes... which I will come to later. So, postie delivered a package of 6 new strings yesterday. As you can see you don't get much help beyond "plain gut 0.62mm" - that's the top G string. Here's today's patient: String #1, the top G, has snapped. The other strings are old and certainly number 2, 3, and 4 are very likely to snap when I tune it up. Gut strings, even heavy gauge ones will snap. There is a type used for low strings known as 'catline' which are plaited like a rope. They're much more robust, but their thick and you have to drill out the holes in the tailpiece... Here's the peg box: And the tailpiece Unlike guitars which have machine heads on the tuners, you have to wind a decent length of the string onto the peg. As you can see from the tailpiece, the bottom two strings have a loop provided on the string, the rest don't: you have to create your own - more on that later....

The viol strings should arrive today... Viol string generally do not have a loop on them, so you have to tie your own loop into the end of the string to fix the string to the tailpiece. One thing I am not looking forward to is re-tuning the frets, which will probably involve replacing a few as well. Frets on viols and lutes are not fixed like they are on guitars, they're lengths of gut that you tie onto the neck - there's a special way of tying them on known as a 'fret knot'. I'll document this further later and I'll see if I can find a useful YT link. As I wrote in the neck relief thread, the cello was not keen on the very hot weather. The instrument is kept most of the time in its Hiscox case and usually the tuning is very stable. My strings are a mix of Larson and Spirocore. Essentially they have a steel core and a 'tape' that's wound around them making for a nice smooth string. With the heat, the strings stretched and everything went very flat (about 15/20 cents). I checked the tuning in the cooler weather yesterday and as expected it had now gone sharp, but only by about 5 cents. I suspect it will move a bit more as the environment 'normalises'.

I checked the cello yesterday and as expected, it had gone sharp as the temperature had dropped - but not as far as I thought it might.

The classic 1970s colour of 'dysentery beige'

Yes, it's an unintelligent "AI" algorithms making these stupid assessments and not a real insurance broker / risk assessor. I agree, it's down to what is your primary income. If your primary income is being a secondary school teacher, then that's what's on your insurance. You might be a weekend bass warrior, but that's not your primary occupation. I agree that you will probably get more sense out of speaking with a proper insurance broker.

My cello is usually very stable. I had a lesson yesterday so got it out a few hours before hand as I suspected it would be troublesome and I was right. Strings were flat (in BC terms I suppose you would say they are flat wound, possibly tape wound? Steel core with a flat wire wrapped around). Usually it's just a slight adjustment with the fine-tuners, but it was way too flat for that, which means tuning from the pegs. So you drop the tuning and bring it up. It's hard going as there's a lot of tension on cello strings. Tuning wasn't stable though and it needed tweaking a few more times. Now that it's cooled significantly, strings will tighten, so I will need to watch that otherwise I'll be faced with strings snapping and I'd rather not fork out £120 for a new C string, although the A is the one likeliest to snap and they're about £40. I've kept my basses in their cases in the shade.

The straps on my Hiscox cello case can be worn as a rucksack, and you can get a purpose built harness to fit as well, but.... you have to watch going through doors as the head is well above the top of my head. You might be abe to install the same harness onto a hard case?

The back section of the shop is Curly Woodwind where I've spent some dosh on saxes in recent years...

The strings on my cello cost £300 a set and they're not even the most expensive you can get but 'average' 😭. Fortunately, only the A string is likely to need regular replacement and they're about £35... it's the lower strings which are painfully expensive

Amongst the eclectic (read 'weird') selection of instruments I play is the viola da gamba aka the viol. The three main instruments are the treble, tenor, and bass. There is the violone which is the double bass member of the family (and it is in fact the instrument DB are derived from). Viols are descended from the vihuela, which is also the ancestor of the guitar. Viols have 6 strings and are tuned in 4ths, apart from one pair which are a 3rd.... Sound familiar? Confusingly, the 3rd is not the same pair of strings as on a guitar... The tenor's tuning (well, standard tuning - there are others) two octaves starting the G on the bottom line of the bass clef: GCFADG. The instrument is fretted, but the frets are tied on by hand using lengths of fret gut (off-cuts of strings basically). You have to push them up and down the neck to tune them. The tenor viol uses the alto clef (C3) for notation, the same as the viola. Obviously, it goes into treble clef for higher pitched stuff. Anyway, the reason for this post is I've not played it for ages and I've decided it needs new strings. It takes gut strings (you cannot use metal string, the neck would snap). In the past I've used fancy mineral loaded gut strings for the lower strings etc. but I've gone for standard strings this time. The bottom two (5 and 6) are metal wound. For 4 I'm using gut with a single wire that spirals around the string. For 1, 2, and 3 plain gut. That's £120. Unlike modern cello strings, gut do not last. If playing regularly, the top string will go false, or snap, within a few months. That one is about £10. String 2 is also prone to snapping. The other strings are less likely to snap but tend to go 'false' i.e. the intonation goes out and it's not in tune with itself. Strings should be here next week, so I'll post photos of me tying the strings to the tail piece and close-ups of the strings. There will then follow immense pain whilst the tuning attempts to stabilise, which will not be helped by variable humidity. Gut unlike metal 'breathes' and it absorbs or releases water vapour as the humidity varies. This affects the mass per unit length of the string which alters the tuning. It can take several hours for the strings to reach equilibrium during which time you will be re-tuning every 5 or 10 minutes.

Crosby comes under Sefton, which used to be Lancashire until they played around with the counties back in 1973

My brother lives in Crosby. If things work out, I'll be moving out that way in due course (currently I live in Shropshire).

Jazz there is also The Caledonian (near the Philharmonic Hall) and Ma Boyles (finance district)

Elgar was not happy that his march Pomp and Circumstance #1 (there are 4) was appropriated for 'Land of Hope and Glory'. "Rule, Britannia" does not mean what most people think it means and it actually pre-dates the majority of the empire (written by Thomas Arne in the C18th c.1740). It also pre-dates Britain's naval supremacy - that lay with the Netherlands at that time. 'Jerusalem' is a poem by Blake with a mixed theme of social justice and religion. It was a response to the early years of the industrial revolution. Its 'dark satanic mills' was probably a reference to early flour mills e.g. in London. It was written around 1804 and so pre-dates considerably the 'dark satanic cotton mills' that people tend to assume it is referencing. The current National Anthem tune dates to the C18th (about 1745) and was the first one... there are several verses not generally sung due to their rather non-PC nature... The tune is used in the US as a hymn tune for some reason. Personally, I'm against the use of texts like Jerusalem because of its religious overtones since I think there should be no link between the state and religion (which for historical reasons is a bit tricky to achieve in the UK).

I would assume that DB are similar to cellos in that end pin units come in various sizes. My experience with cellos is luthiers always have boxes of bits and pieces

Good job they're not employing people since the ad breaches UK law with regard to age discrimination....

As someone noted earlier, it's the kind of nonsense that gets dreamt up by MBA types - all theory and no real world experience

I refer to those types as "The Great I Am"... they think they're marvellous, the centre of the known universe, the life and soul of the party. They often think they're very amusing as well. Their aim is usually to be seen as 'the big cheese' in charge and running things. Usually, they take the credit for other people's work. Because they're usually the 'front person' it can seem that they're doing it all.

Finally booked myself onto a music summer school for this year. I'm hoping it means the bass will get an outing. IT's a course that has multiple options. Most courses for orchestral instruments you're in one main group for most of the week e.g. symphony orchestra. This one on cello I'll be playing chamber music, string orchestra, and chamber orchestra. On bari sax I'll do wind ensemble, and either bass or bari sax for big band (hoping bass). With a cello, baritone sax, and a bass in the car, there won't be room for luggage...

Not exactly the same vein as other posts... The chamber orchestra I play in had its first public outing since 2019... It was a short programme aimed at friends and family. venue was our usual rehearsal venue, a church hall near Chester. Th programme included Mozart overture to Marriage of Figaro and a suite of renaissance dances by Delibes for a ballet (Le roi s'amuse). Mozart went well. There was a hiccough in one of the Delibes movement as some had forgotten that although written with a 4/2 time signature, it was being conducted in 2, so in effect a 2/1 time signature (yes, 2 semi-breves to a bar... crotchets are quite brisk when you're playing at 60 semi-breves a minute...)

Yes, PLI is a nuisance, but the situation you've outlined is why these days it's essential. Sounds like the marquee set-up was a bit amateurish.

Weird how these coincide with other problems making you think computer armageddon has arrived! My Macbook misbehaved when I got back from playing with my sax ensemble - I had to run a back-up and disk utility first aid. Then I logged on here and couldn't find posts... Good t know it was something else

I've got the same problem