Flatwound? How about spider wound?

[almeriastrings]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17232058

Researchers make violin strings from spider silk.

I bet they make Thomastik's look cheap.

[Randi Gormley]

Wow. (I just had an idea for a horror film... probably because of the way the music on the tape sounded).

[strings777]

...very cool...spider's silk might sound great on a mandolin too...

[mandobassman]

Fascinating!!! Of course it didn't mention the cost. The sound was beautiful. What a mellow, sweet tone.

[Paul Kotapish]

A big part of the cost is training those spiders to walk in a perpetual spiral while they wrap the string.

When I worked at Strings magazine (for violin-family players) I tried to set up an interview/photo-shoot with a guy who hand made gut strings in the traditional manner. Other than assuring me that no cats were involved, he wasn't willing to let me in on his operation for fear that valuable trade secrets would be lost to the competition if we published any details or images. I'm still curious about how he actually did it. The finished product looked nothing like its source material.

[mrmando]

To paraphrase Garrison Keillor:

Has your fiddler tried 'em, spider silk?
Arachnids wove and tied 'em, spider silk!
If your fiddler's tried 'em, you know you've satisfied 'im;
They're the real hot item, spider silk.

I would like to know how the scientist gets the spiders to produce extra silk. I guess you could take them up 20,000 feet or so, push them out of the plane and force them to weave their own parachutes. But that would be animal cruelty.

[Charlieshafer]

A big part of the cost is training those spiders to walk in a perpetual spiral while they wrap the string.

I'm thinking they dangle flies on a string and have that set up on some sort of low-rpm motor, so the spider chases the fly around and around, sort of like low-speed greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit.

[Gregory Tidwell]

I would like to know how the scientist gets the spiders to produce extra silk.

I'm guessing they are giving graduate credit to a bunch of phd candidates to jump out every few minutes and yell "BOO" at the spiders. I used to do that to me mum a lot and strange things came out of her.

Either that or they just tell them one hysterical insect joke after another. "Hey, didja hear the one about the Irish fly reverend who went into the Hindu bar?". The effect can be the same sometimes.