Stringing of bass courses on the late 18th century six course Spanish Guitar.

[Martyn Hodgson]

 

Further to the previous recent discussions (in the Early Romantic Guitar forum) around the string tensions and the fretting (ie fixed metal or gut loops) of these particular instruments, I'd be grateful for any views on suitable readily available modern strings for the basses: ie the fourth, fifth and sixth courses. The string length is 644mm and the pitch at modern A440.

I'm supposing that at this period (the 1760/70s onwards) the fourth and fifth courses of these instruments are now overwound and strung in unison but the sixth course has just one low overwound and a high gut octave (following early sources).

Rather than using modern overwound lute strings (eh Kurschner etc) which seem to have relative thinner cores than modern classical guitar wound strings and so give excessive 'zing', I'm considering using ordinary classical guitar strings (eg Saverez or D'Addario Pro Arte) but using the modern guitar fourth strings for the fifth course (ie tuned a fourth down) and similarly a modern fifth string for the sixth course - this will give the tension of around 3.5KG I'm seeking as well as, hopefully, less 'zing'.

Any feedback of practical experience of stringing such instruments much appreciated.

MH