Violone

Description and demonstration of the violone by A. Arceci, an Early Music student at the Peabody Conservatory.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• early
• music
• volone

[ShinAkiraX]

his voice beats the sound of the violone.

[dothebedn]

is it true that if the high strings break they will cut your fingers off?

[ghitaciprian]

i am working with 12 more other luthers at a 6 string double-bass C-G-D-A-E-B

[barrocke]

Beautiful instrument ! Where did you got it? I want a Violone like yours. best regards !

[renzolikescheez]

because it wasnt in the time of orchestras. It was in the time of Shakespeare.

[Dimmify]

Why isn't this used in orchestras?

[wcbroccoli]

Another string type which works well on bass viols is "loaded gut", i.e., gut that has be soaked in a solution of metal salts. A friend uses loaded gut for her G5 and D6 bass strings, and they sound much better that the usual wire wound version. But the only source I know is Aquila Corde Harmoniche in Italy:

aquilacordeDOTcom

[wcbroccoli]

Ideally, you'd want all your strings to be plain gut, but this would require your lowest string be very thick and/or very long.

Before the intro of wire wound gut in the 1670s, bass viols and cellos had to be built with very long string lengths -- up to 82 cm. The wire wound strings made it possible to build instruments with 69 cm strings length.

[wcbroccoli]

The aluminum (or silver or copper) wound C4 string is actually gut spun with wire. I think they might spin silk around the gut before they apply the wire.

There's a big difference in timbre between a plain gut E3 string and the aluminum C4 you mentioned.

The "open" wound C4 string might make a smoother timbre transition from plain gut E3 to wire wound G5.

In other words, "open" wound strings sound more like plain gut that the usual wire wound gut.

[TheCrazyLutenist]

I realise I said the wrong thing when I said "loosely coiled" I did mean that the frequency of the windings was fairly low. I wouldn't know much about it myself, I was just told by my teacher. He was probably warning me, especially considering how inexperienced I am compared to him.

I'm still not sure about the quality of sound they produce, I considering buying one to replace an aluminium c-string. What difference do they make in general?

[wcbroccoli]

"Very loosely coiled" does not mean loose or free to slip and slide. It refers to the frequency of the windings, not how much the wire hugs the gut. It just means that the windings are widely spaced like stripes on a barber's pole or a candy cane. And the wire is polished, not razor sharp

I have tight and "open" wound gut strings on my bass viol, but I've never cut myself.

Ads for such strings appeared in England around 1675.

They were used on cellos as well since the late 1600s.