WOUND STRINGS
CLASSICAL SCORES
BUILDING YOUR OWN
DYLAN'S LUCAS
In the October 1996 issue, in the article "Gauging Strings," the author talks about nylon strings, stating, "Many companies are now offering wound second and third (B and G) strings as well as the occasional wound first (E)." Which companies offer these string sets?
Lyle St. Michel
Tempe, Arizona
If a set specifies wound, you may like its extra-bright, edgy quality. In reviewing my notes for the article, I found many companies that discussed wound trebles, but only one that offers them. Check out Savarez' 520P, a high-tension string that emphasizes crispness but adds finger noise, which some like (including myself) and others hate. Visit your local music stores. If they don't carry the strings you want, they can order them for you.
--Harry Fleishman
Can you tell me how to obtain scores for the song entitled Suite Koyunbaba, Op. 19, by Carlo Domeniconi, and Tango en Skai, by Roland Dyens?
Entjun
Singapore
Roland Dyens' Tango en Skai is published by Henri Lemoine in Paris. Carlo Domeniconi's Suite Koyunbaba, Op. 19, is published by Editions Margaux in Berlin. You can order both scores from Guitar Solo in San Francisco by calling (415) 896-1144 or writing to Guitar Solo, 514 Bryant St., San Francisco, CA 94107-1217.
--Michael Simmons
I have an inexpensive 12-string guitar. The tone isn't very good, but it seems to have a strong neck. Is there a way to put bass guitar strings on it to make it an acoustic bass? I wouldn't expect it to be a great guitar, just something to use to learn to play bass. What changes on the headstock, tuners, nut, and bridge would I need to make?
Brad Dixon
Moberly, Missouri
You'd need to dowel the peghead and drill for new tuners, install a new nut, reconfigure the bridge . . . in other words, spend more than $250 at your local guitar repair shop. And then you'd have a butchered instrument with mediocre tone and the wrong scale length.
Guitars typically have a scale length measured from bridge saddle to nut of 25 inches, plus or minus three-quarters of an inch. The strings are designed for that range of scale length, and the fret spacing on each instrument is laid out according to its exact scale length. Bass guitar scale lengths are much longer--30 to 34 inches--and the strings are made much heavier to generate bass tones with proper string tension. If you were to try to use bass strings on your guitar, the tension would be so low because of the shorter scale that the strings would just flap around in a most unmusical manner.
If you're up for a challenge, though, you might consider getting an acoustic bass neck blank or even a whole instrument kit from C.F. Martin or one of the other kit companies. There are many luthiers out there who started by trying to turn one instrument into another and wound up building what they always wanted.
--Rick Turner
I recently watched the now classic movie Don't Look Back about the 1966 Bob Dylan English tour. I was stumped as to what kind of guitar he was playing. I always thought he was a Gibson man in those days, but the headstock was unfamiliar to me.
Jim Lennon
Darien, Connecticut
The guitar that Dylan was playing is a Gibson Nick Lucas Special, probably made in the late '20s or early '30s. Almost all of the Nick Lucas Specials from that period were sunburst, although the version in Don't Look Back is blond. It is likely that the guitar was refinished, because the bridge and pickguard both appear to have been replaced.
--Michael Simmons
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