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Did You Know? #2
The original "gut strings" used for classical guitars were made from the small intestines of sheep. The three treble strings were made from sheep intestine, referred to as plain gut, while the three bass strings were made of a silk thread core wound with gut. The production material changed to nylon during World War II, when all available gut was used in the production of surgical thread for wounded soldiers.
In the mid 1940s, Andres Segovia mentioned the shortage of good gut guitar strings in the United States, particularly his favorite Pirastro catgut strings, to a number of foreign diplomats at a party, including General Lindeman of the British Embassy. A month later, the General presented Segovia with some nylon strings which he had obtained via some members of the DuPont family. Segovia found that although the strings produced a clear sound, they had a faint metallic timbre which he hoped could be eliminated.
In 1946, Segovia and Augustine were introduced by their mutual friend Vladimir Bobri, editor of Guitar Review. On the basis of Segovia's interest and Augustine's past experiments, they decided to pursue the development of nylon strings. DuPont, skeptical of the idea, agreed to supply the nylon if Augustine would endeavor to develop and produce the actual strings. After three years of development, Augustine demonstrated a nylon first string whose quality impressed guitarists, including Segovia, in addition to DuPont.
Since the development of nylon guitar strings, the three treble strings are a single unwound line of nylon filament, while the three bass strings are made of a core of fine plastic threads wound with bronze wire or silver plated copper wire.
iPad Guitar Possibilities
Today, Apple released the iPad. While I have little that doubt it will be a success as a web browser and game machine, I can’t help but imagine its possibilities as a music device for guitar players.
First Things First
Naturally, to be useful as an audio device, it needs audio input and output. It appears that the dock jack will be able to provide this. Hopefully one of the many audio or guitar companies out there will create a dedicated audio input device with 1/4” input and output jacks. Even cooler would be a wireless input/output device. Once this initial obstacle is removed, the possibilities start to take off.
Basics
At heart, the iPad is a tablet computer with a touch-screen interface. So software is the key. Of course, it could be used as a tuner or metronome, but those are minor applications. I imagine even bigger possibilities. Let me share a few...
Live Use
Because the iPad is thin, light, and flat, it would be ideal for placing on a music stand. Imagine a music notation application with a foot pedal to change pages. How cool would that be. The most basic text reader application could probably hold and dsiplay all your chord and lyric sheets. This would be a great thing for a guitarist playing in a church worship band, for example.
If it is powerful enough, versions of guitar software like Guitar Rig or AmpliTube could be used live making it the ultimate portable rig. Individual effects could be made into apps also.
Recording
A basic DAW should be easy to pull off. Something like Garage Band would be great for capturing ideas and building tracks. Again software modeling could play a big role. It could also be a great DAW contoller, either a DAW running on the iPad or one running on a seperate, and more powerful computer (with some form of USB or wireless connection.) Since it uses touch screen technology, sliding virtual faders on the screen would be the next best thing to actual faders on a mixer.
Education
Imagine having a guitar method book that plays back audio or video with a touch of the music on screen. While not the same as interacting with a real teacher, it would be better than what we have now. With a wireless connection and video chat software, it could possibly even be used for remote lessons.
Other Ideas
These are just obvious (to me) ideas I came up with quickly. I am sure there will be many more possibilities I (and others) haven’t yet thought of (and publishers are probably working on.) It should be interesting to see how things progress...
Dream Guitar
I opened the case and there it was. One of the rarest of all guitar treasures, a hand-made Collings 17" archtop. Its beauty was indescribable. Yet I dared not touch it for fear that ever after my fingers would never be satisfied with another guitar. Then I heard the builder say "You must. Don't you understand. I designed it just for you."
My hand shaking, I reached for the unattainable masterpiece men of common means can only dream of… Beep beep beep beep — the alarm went off. Arrggh! Back to reality.
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