adamgood - 7-4-2010 at 11:15 PM
Wondering if anyone knows about different metal string materials...
The standard replacement string sets that are sold for cümbüş are from a company called Avarez I think. The plain/unwound strings for the high
D and A strings see to last forever compared to your average steel unwound guitar string. They don't get that corroded rusty feel to them!
Recently I picked took my cümbüş home with me from Houdetsi, Crete where it had been living for 5 years. I'm sure nobody ever bothered to
change the strings and I'm amazed that the unwounds still have so much life in them.
What could they be made out of if not the same material as for steel string guitars?
On my Turkish mizrab tanbur I've had the same set of harpsichord strings for about 4 years now and they are also very un-corroded.
any ideas?
Adam
fernandraynaud - 7-5-2010 at 02:21 PM
For what it's worth, harpsichord strings are usually solid, made of iron (not steel), then yellow brass, then red brass, as you go lower in pitch. On
clavichord sometimes the basses are done with loosely overwound red brass, but these are handmade very rare and expensive items.
There are coated plain steel strings, and wound ones too, like Elixirs, or D'Addario EXPs, that are used on electric and Western guitar, and are
promoted as retarding corrosion. They sound almost as bright as uncoated strings, and do last a long time.
http://www.elixirstrings.com/
http://www.juststrings.com/antirustelixirguitarsinglestrings.html