Spider Silk Spun Into Violin Strings 49
jones_supa writes "A Japanese researcher wanted to see how spider silk would convert to strings of a violin. Dr. Shigeyoshi Osaki of Nara Medical University used 300 female Nephila maculata spiders to provide the dragline silk. For each string, Osaki twisted thousands of individual strands of silk in one direction to form a bundle. The strings were then prepared from three of these bundles twisted together in the opposite direction. The final product withstood less tension before breaking than a traditional gut string, but more than an aluminum-coated, nylon-core string. This kind of spider-string is described as having a 'soft and profound timbre.'"
gut versus nylon (Score:4, Interesting)
Somehow that doesn't make sense to me. Gut strings are somewhat delicate. They have been largely replaced by nylon cores flat-wound with flat wire (aluminum or silver) for old instruments, and more modern instruments that can stand the high tension are wound on steel cores. I thought that nylon core strings could stand higher tension that gut strings. They certainly last longer. Nobody uses gut any more.
silk - 0.15 mm down to 10 nm (Score:5, Interesting)
TFA says '3000 to 5000' strands of silk just to make one of the three strings that are twisted the other way (just like a class three-strand rope). I'm duly astonished - I knew spider silk was skinny, but it must be much smaller than I had ever envisioned. So I looked it up, and found stated diameters from 0.15 mm (small, but macro) down to the finest at 10 nanometers!
I also learned about work from 2003 using that 10 nm silk as a core to make hollow optical fiber, which they hoped to make fiber with a diameter of only 2 nm.
Re:gut versus nylon (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting, it's been a long time, but when I played it was all gut, except the E string which was steel. I figured that other than for students, that would likely always be the case due to the intrinsic classical nature of classically played violin. Combined with the effect of a well made / good instrument only getting better with age...when properly cared for...but I googled a bit, and it does indicate the steel and synthetic are much more common these days.
I'm no expert, but my second violin had steel strings, and it was similar, though not nearly as dramatic, as a honkey-tonk piano compared the timber of a grand piano a'la comparing steel to to the gut strings. Both pleasing if for completely different reasons and experiences.
Re:gut versus nylon (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a serious violin student (studying violin performance in grad school now) and I use gut strings wound in steel for my three lower strings and a plain steel e on the highest string on my modern (made two years ago) instrument. Your statement that 'nobody uses gut any more' isn't true at all for violin playing, although perhaps for guitar it may be true. The problem with plain steel strings is that the sound is very simple. It might be stable and loud but it doesn't have the same complexity that gut strings (and modern synthetic imitations) have.
I have had experience using plain gut strings and what really kills them is fraying from sweat, not tension. After playing heavily on plain gut strings for a while the outer strands will start unravel and form little 'hairs' foreshadowing the eventual failure of the string. Gut strings wound in steel (like the ones I use) solve this problem by shielding the gut. The steel also helps tuning stability as gut is more affected by swings in humidity than steel.
Re:gut versus nylon (Score:5, Interesting)
"not widely played".... um, yes, that is certainly true. There are a few players out there. I've seen and heard a Hardanger fiddle, which is in that family.
My daughter's violin teacher, old enough to have grandchildren in college, and who played in the San Jose orchestra when *she* was in high school, uses gut strings on her main instrument - Pirastro Olive's. But she is a hold out on gut strings. When above I said "nobody uses them" I should have said "nobody except the last few hold outs". I can't think of anyone else I know using gut. Almost all our teacher's students are playing on Thomastik Dominants, which are steel core.
It is interesting that baroque era violins had a more shallow neck angle and a lower bridge. There is less overall string tension, so the top plate is generally carved much thinner. Most old instruments have had a neck reset to the modern angle, and of course have been fitted with the taller bridge that goes with it. You have to be careful with those instruments because a modern steel string like a Dominant will apply more force than the top can survive.
An ironic joke. (Score:4, Interesting)
Interestingly, the best current source of spider silk today are genetically engineered goats which produce the protein in breast milk. Fiddle with nature indeed.