Poop, as well as a nice surprise!

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Poop, as well as nice surprise!.jpg

Sigh... of course, in the week before a concerto performance on the d'amore, I will manage to snap several strings. This is what you get for practicing! They would last much longer if I didn't play them every day...

Anyway, this time, I managed to snap the 5th strings... so, the first of the silver wound strings. Sigh, these ones cost a fair bit, so I try to avoid changing them out unless I really really have to... and a snapped string is definitely one of those situations where you have no choice but to swap it out!

As I started to rummage through my d'amore string stash, I was hopeful to see two packets of the silver wound strings that I needed. Unfortunately, the first packet was empty... and then the second one WAS AS WELL! Shit shit shit... some idiot former self must have thought to keep the packets as a reminder of the gauge size that they would need to order, and the FORGOT to bloody order the string!

So, this was going to be a little bit of dilemma... I could either jury rig the remainder of the string to hold and try to keep playing on it (it would be weak and likely to fail at a bad time...)... or I could try to see what other strings that I had that MIGHT work.

My first thought was to think about which of the strings on the intruments that I had would be of a similar pitch. Currently the d'amore is tuned to 440 Hz, and the sounding pitch of the string would need to be the A below the middle C. A modern viola string would be pitched to G below middle C, so a tone lower... and the d'amore is actually strung for 415Hz anyway, so it would only be a semitone lower than the ideal gauge. So... that would have to do!

... but a quick check on websites to see if there were any options to deliver within a day or two... all the other players that I knew of would be in Sydney or Melbourne, so... nothing quick, even if they were able to ship it immediately (or even if they had a spare!). And my usual shipping from Europe... well, that would be weeks at least! I have days...

Modern G string hack it was.

Poop, as well as nice surprise!.jpg

The string length was long enough, and I did find a used one... so, that I wouldn't be wasting a fresh string on what would be a temporary fix for the concerts. You can see it above on the photo, it is the top most metal string... sadly, not silver wound, but a steel string. It is a good deal thinner than the surrounding strings due to the higher line density of the steel vs the gut/gut core strings. That would be a little bit annoying as it messes up the exact levels of the strings crossings... but more annoying is the fact that steel is a good deal more slippery to play on than the gut versions, and when only one of them is like that... well, it is a bit like a random puddle of ice in the middle of instrument!

I guess this is what I'm paid to do... play as if there was no problem at all!

So... the pleasant surprise! As I have been going back through my old recordings to start up some sort of sample list for my new ensemble (to send to concert organisers)... I've found a LOT of decent stuff! I usually hate going back to listen to things.. but it appears that there are some really nice things in there that I would be proud to send out! Also, some really fond memories of playing with past colleagues... Hopefully in the future, I will be in a position to get them out to Australia to play again!

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