Strings Fighting a GAS atack....

[Tenor Viol]

Is it something in the air, or is it because I'm getting stare crazy with being confined to barracks for the last three weeks? I had my first full 'normal' day yesterday since the op at end of September and went to one of the local music shops....

Apart from sheet music, which was my "excuse" for going in, they stock string instruments... I got talking to the string specialist and mentioned, as you do 🙂rolleyes🙂 that I used to play 'cello (not since 1978...)

So you know what happend next don't you? I'm in a room with a modern Chinese 'cello and a German instrument from early 1900s, both the same price.

Results?

Chinese instrument blew the German one out of the water: physically lighter, more responsive, more resonant, strings speak more readily - less prone to sounding harmonic rather than fundamental (especially on bottom C string).

Talking with the string guy after the test, he wasn't surprised. He was saying that apart from the really cheap rubbish, Chinese instruments are now very good, particularly if you get a luthier to properly set them up (which he had done) and put decent stirngs on them (decent strings c.£100 and about another £100 to adjust/replace bridge, soundpost, and adjust fingerboard and pegs).

I swapped e-mails with the now more-or-less retired head of the local music service, who is a 'cellist (I've used him to fix orchestras for some of the concerts with my chamber choir). His opinion was that a well set-up Chinese instrument around the £1,000 mark (the one I tested was £1,250) will beat anything European until you get up to about the £5,000 mark 😱.

I did manage to walk out of the shop without buying the instrument...🙂)) ... for now

 

[kevgermany]

some really nice cellos coming out of Romania as well.

 

[Tenor Viol]

some really nice cellos coming out of Romania as well.

aaaarrrggghhhh - must resist the forces of GAS...😛🙂))

Visited a luthier in Manchester today :shocked:

 

[Chris]

Go on. You know you want to really🙂))

 

[trimmy]

It's only money !!!!! Think of the hours and hours of pleasure you will have

I'm also getting a GAS attack 🙁

 

[kevgermany]

It's only money !!!!! Think of the hours and hours of pleasure you will have

And the hours of pleasure you'll be able to give other people....

 

[Tenor Viol]

And the hours of pleasure you'll be able to give other people....

Hmm, debatable

Visiting another luthier this morning....

 

[Tenor Viol]

I've compromised 🙂))

I've hired 🙂optimistic🙂 an instrument and a bow... so I now have three months to decide if I want to go further with it nor not...

I'll post a pic of the newly extended instrument family later.;}

 

[Tenor Viol]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

Welcome to the family.... See attachment.

Left to right: tenor viol, bass viol, alto sax, 'cello The Yamaha upright piano is out of shot to the right..... and the drawer in the book shelf contains a treble, tenor and bass recorder.....

 

[Tenor Viol]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

I think my viol tutor is trying to ruin me...
Tonight he had me playing my tenor but playing a part written for a treble viol reading treble clef at pitch. The normal clef for a tenor viol is the alto C3 clef - same as a viola. You do get to play octave treble i.e. same as a tenor/baritone singer sounds an octave lower than written. This was treble at pitch in other words as written and therefore significantly higher pitched than you would typically play on a tenor.

So, my tutor says, "Why don't you have a go playing it as written - I'll get a treble viol?"

So, next half hour is spent playing the piece on a treble viol... tuning of which is the same as my bass viol, but an octave higher. Worryingly, I got on with it quite well...

Must resist....must resist....must resist....🙂)):shocked:;} I can't possibly take another instrument on board!

 

[kevgermany]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

Just get a violin to go with the cello.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

Just get a violin to go with the cello.

🙂)) Gee, with friends like you....;}

Nah - one advantage of viols and cellos is that you don't have to contort yourself to stick them under your chin

 

[kevgermany]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

🙂)) Gee, with friends like you....;}

Nah - one advantage of viols and cellos is that you don't have to contort yourself to stick them under your chin

But with viols the frets get in the way.

 

[Stephen Howard]

There are sound (ho ho) reasons why the Chinese are doing so well in classical strings, and it's down to their production methods.
The traditional western approach has been for the maker to do everything....from selecting the wood through to making the individual components.
The Chinese way is to break the process down and assign each section to an individual - so on guy makes backs, another makes necks etc.

What this tends to mean is that you end up with workers who know a great deal about their particular field, and when the whole thing is brought together the resulting standard is that much higher. And cheaper.

Of course, there can be drawbacks. Some of the Chinese cellos can be very light (whereas German workshop cellos are normally quite heavy), and this lightness can prove to be an Achilles heel sometimes. And, of course, they need setting up properly.

But they're a far, far cry from the Chinese classical strings of yesteryear.

Regards,

 

[old git]

Fight it off like a true Englishman, TV.

That nice Mr. Cameron wishes us to pay off our debts, not incur them.

Pull yourself together man and don't pay any attention to the lies that will emanate from YC and Jonf, alleging that I am buying telescopes.

Pax, et libra, vobiscum.

 

[Young Col]

But you are buying telescopes. You've got flat full of them. Oh, all right then, a hallway full. It would have been more if you'd dragged me down to Kent tomorrow.

 

[old git]

The truth is that YC, jealous that I have a tenor and he just an alto or two, threatened to blind me with my own laser collimator unless I bought an 8 inch Dobsonian and lent it to him.

BTW:-An inch Dobsonian is a Newtonian Astronomical Telescope on a base invented by John Dobson and not an electric powered thing, you filthy minded lot.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Re: Fighting a GAS atack....FAILED

But with viols the frets get in the way.

True and they're a pig to tune - they go wandering along the neck after a while when they stretch - and they wear out and have to be replaced

 

[Tenor Viol]

There are sound (ho ho) reasons why the Chinese are doing so well in classical strings, and it's down to their production methods.
The traditional western approach has been for the maker to do everything....from selecting the wood through to making the individual components.
The Chinese way is to break the process down and assign each section to an individual - so on guy makes backs, another makes necks etc.

What this tends to mean is that you end up with workers who know a great deal about their particular field, and when the whole thing is brought together the resulting standard is that much higher. And cheaper.

Of course, there can be drawbacks. Some of the Chinese cellos can be very light (whereas German workshop cellos are normally quite heavy), and this lightness can prove to be an Achilles heel sometimes. And, of course, they need setting up properly.

But they're a far, far cry from the Chinese classical strings of yesteryear.

Regards,

Agreed - the Chines eviols (e.g. Lu Mi which are available over here from EMS or the Charlie Ogler ones in the States) have a good rep but not cheap - a tenor is over GBP2k.

Both of mine are Ceské which is a Czech company. The Chinese weren't around when I bought my bass in 2004 and from trying them, the Chinese are better quality all round. Viols are better if lighter and more resonant, which the handmade ones are.

My 'cello is Chinese (American spec, but imported direct to UK and not via States). It's a stunningly good instrument for the price and fully hand built. I'd have to pay over GBP 5k or 6k to get an improvement.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Fight it off like a true Englishman, TV.

That nice Mr. Cameron wishes us to pay off our debts, not incur them.

Pull yourself together man and don't pay any attention to the lies that will emanate from YC and Jonf, alleging that I am buying telescopes.

Pax, et libra, vobiscum.

I definitely don't need more of those - I have three as it is!

Ave et vale