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Post by dradtke on Apr 10, 2022 8:33:21 GMT -5
I know, I know, I'm supposed to be retired. But the company I used to work for (and am still a part-owner due to the ESOP) asked me to do a few drawings for a project.
Part of the display will be a guitar in an open case. To quote from the content manual, "visitors reveal a guitar so they can feel the guitar strings and learn that sheep intestines become instrument strings."
The guitar will be permanently mounted inside the case, which will of course kill the guitar. My question for the forum fount of knowledge is, what type of guitar still uses gut strings? The purchaser or the art fab guys would most likely just pick up any cheap guitar for it, but museum folks are amazingly picky about things being accurate.
As a steel sting player I'm not particularly knowledgeable here, so what should I tell the project manager to buy for this? Any typical nylon string classical? Or something more specific?
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Post by billhammond on Apr 10, 2022 8:45:15 GMT -5
I know, I know, I'm supposed to be retired. But the company I used to work for (and am still a part-owner due to the ESOP) asked me to do a few drawings for a project. Part of the display will be a guitar in an open case. To quote from the content manual, "visitors reveal a guitar so they can feel the guitar strings and learn that sheep intestines become instrument strings." The guitar will be permanently mounted inside the case, which will of course kill the guitar. My question for the forum fount of knowledge is, what type of guitar still uses gut strings? The purchaser or the art fab guys would most likely just pick up any cheap guitar for it, but museum folks are amazingly picky about things being accurate. As a steel sting player I'm not particularly knowledgeable here, so what should I tell the project manager to buy for this? Any typical nylon string classical? Or something more specific? Maybe a Yamaha trombone? |
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Post by drlj on Apr 10, 2022 9:04:46 GMT -5
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Post by Marty on Apr 10, 2022 9:27:33 GMT -5
In the late 1880s steel string guitars started to appear and by the early 1920s gut strings started to disappear, except on classical guitars which lasted until the 1950s when that secret weapon Nylon became available. Secret because you can make very cheap and durable parachutes with nylon, Germany and Japan did not have the stuff.
The guitars that used those string are somewhat rare, and expensive, these days. But they are out there if one looks, hard.
A Martin size 0 before 1925 should do. Or the more common 0-16 NY which Martin claimed built for gut or silk and steel. There is a 00-18G built for gut.
I'll break out the Gruhn's book later and look up a few more.
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Apr 10, 2022 9:49:03 GMT -5
I think it’s a great idea to take a classic vintage guitar, and basically destroy it. Not!
Mike
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Post by TKennedy on Apr 10, 2022 9:49:52 GMT -5
Gut, being a protein may denature over time and logically will no longer be nature.
My brother in law in Omaha used to take his kids to Peony Amusement Park when they were little and tell them it was Disneyland. I would suggest a similar approach David. No one will be the wiser.
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Post by drlj on Apr 10, 2022 9:52:55 GMT -5
Watch the video. Order some Pyramid gut strings. Put them on a cheap classical. Nobody is going to play a guitar superglued to a case. It’s all looks and feel & has nothing to do with the quality of the guitar.
Gut strings are available.
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Post by millring on Apr 10, 2022 9:54:08 GMT -5
Gutsy question.
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Post by John B on Apr 10, 2022 9:54:27 GMT -5
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Apr 10, 2022 10:09:04 GMT -5
I’m guessing that a guitar built with gut strings in mind would have wooden friction pegs, not machine tuners.
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Post by drlj on Apr 10, 2022 10:13:11 GMT -5
The gut strings are a bit pricey at $110 per set. Aren’t there any stray cats in your neighborhood?
If you want friction pegs, get a cheap flamenco guitar. Of course, using friction pegs is like being in the 5th circle of hell but, again, it’s going to be superglued in a case so I doubt it going to get tuned a lot.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Apr 10, 2022 10:30:00 GMT -5
The gut strings are a bit pricey at $110 per set. Aren’t there any stray cats in your neighborhood? About the same price (per string) as violin strings. |
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Post by John B on Apr 10, 2022 10:41:37 GMT -5
I’m guessing that a guitar built with gut strings in mind would have wooden friction pegs, not machine tuners. The people who are going to notice are, umm, a small subset of the general population. Like us and a few other snobs. But yeah, that would be nice. But probably easier/cheaper to have the fab guys replace the headstock of a super cheap classical guitar with something that looks like a flamenco peghead. Since the guitar is affixed to the display, it can't really be playable, so if the look is what's desired I bet they can make it work. So maybe buy a super-cheap classical, and show the fab guys what a flamenco headstock looks like. Invest in the strings, since that's the point of the display. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 20,484
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Post by Dub on Apr 10, 2022 10:46:32 GMT -5
I’m guessing that a guitar built with gut strings in mind would have wooden friction pegs, not machine tuners. The people who are going to notice are, umm, a small subset of the general population. Like us and a few other snobs. But yeah, that would be nice. But probably easier/cheaper to have the fab guys replace the headstock of a super cheap classical guitar with something that looks like a flamenco peghead. Since the guitar is affixed to the display, it can't really be playable, so if the look is what's desired I bet they can make it work. So maybe buy a super-cheap classical, and show the fab guys what a flamenco headstock looks like. Invest in the strings, since that's the point of the display. I don’t know how museums work but I would assume they want at least the appearance of being academic. They wouldn’t want curators from other museums making fun of them. |
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Post by drlj on Apr 10, 2022 10:54:05 GMT -5
The people who are going to notice are, umm, a small subset of the general population. Like us and a few other snobs. But yeah, that would be nice. But probably easier/cheaper to have the fab guys replace the headstock of a super cheap classical guitar with something that looks like a flamenco peghead. Since the guitar is affixed to the display, it can't really be playable, so if the look is what's desired I bet they can make it work. So maybe buy a super-cheap classical, and show the fab guys what a flamenco headstock looks like. Invest in the strings, since that's the point of the display. I don’t know how museums work but I would assume they want at least the appearance of being academic. They wouldn’t want curators from other museums making fun of them. Probably shouldn’t use an Ovation or a Rainsong. |
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Post by epaul on Apr 10, 2022 11:54:50 GMT -5
Go with Bill's idea.
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Post by Marty on Apr 10, 2022 12:15:06 GMT -5
I think I know a way of making the guitar very difficult to remove from the case without destroying either case or guitar.
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Post by james on Apr 10, 2022 12:19:31 GMT -5
Fill it up with lead ingots?
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Post by dradtke on Apr 10, 2022 12:49:07 GMT -5
The people who are going to notice are, umm, a small subset of the general population. Like us and a few other snobs. Yes, but the knowledgeable people who notice things wrong in a museum are incredibly vocal - worse even than any Soundholian. You wouldn't believe the lengths we need go to to insure accuracy on the smallest points. |
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Post by Hobson on Apr 10, 2022 13:17:05 GMT -5
I know absolutely nothing about how to do this. But there are those who do. Why reinvent the wheel or the guitar strings? What do museums do? How about contacting somebody at the Musical Instrument Museum or some such place?
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