Gut strings..?

[T.D.Nydn]

I am wondering,what kind of strings would you put on a mandolin if you lived,let's say ,in Italy in like 1810? Would they be gut? It would be gut strings on a bowlback,,would that have any real volume? Where would you go back then to buy strings,at a luthiers shop?

[Capt. E]

Gut strings would have been obtained from the same sources as violin strings. They are still used, for Baroque music especially.
Take a look at this thread: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?50858-Gut-strings-for-mandolin

[EdHanrahan]

... would that have any real volume?

Sure. If the instrument were built light enough, it would have adequate volume for its environment. Fortunately for the mandolin players, there wasn't a lot of bluegrass in 1810 Italy.

(And if it weren't built light enough to be heard, folks wouldn't hear them and others wouldn't bother playing them, and ultimately they'd disappear. Yeouch - sounds a lot like the overly-philosophical response I just gave on tunings!)

[Martin Jonas]

I am wondering,what kind of strings would you put on a mandolin if you lived,let's say ,in Italy in like 1810? Would they be gut? It would be gut strings on a bowlback,,would that have any real volume? Where would you go back then to buy strings,at a luthiers shop?

Depends on where in Italy. In Northern Italy, most mandolins were five- or six-course instruments with either single or double strings (e.g. the Stradivarius (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Mandolins/StradMandolin/StradMandolin.html)mandolin). These had gut strings. In contrast, the Neapolitan mandolin as developed from the late 17th century onwards, i.e. the four-course bowlback mandolin tuned in GDAE which is the precursor of all modern mandolins, was never strung in all-gut strings. Before the onset of modern steel strings in the late 19th century, Neapolitan mandolins used mixed stringing, with different materials for each course: gut for the E, brass for the A (harpsichord wire), twisted brass for the D and metal wound gut (or silk) for the G string, sometimes in octaves rather than unison.

While Baroque Neapolitan mandolins were somewhat softer than modern ones, they can be plenty loud enough. There are a number of performers who still give concerts using either restored old mandolins or modern reproductions with authentic strings, and I can vouch from direct experience (as listener, nor performer, I hasten to say) that a good soloist can fill a concert hall with sound just fine with these strings.

There are a few old threads on this on the Cafe if you need more detail. Alternatively, read "The Early Mandolin" by Tyler and Sparks.

Martin