Oil vs. Tempera, part 1

 

One of my secondary, or even tertiary, instruments is the 15-string classical.  My primary instruments are all steel-string; I reach for the 15-string classical when I need a highly contrasting and rare voice for a piece.  I sometimes think of this as the difference between oil paintings and tempera paintings.

All double courses except for the low three bass courses, which are all singles.  The tuning for the low three was E, B, A.  Over the past year, I've dropped that to E, A, E.  Today, I dropped it further to E, A, D.  Thunderous, yet present.

On the most recent string change, I switched the lowest string from a lute string to a phosphor bronze  .080 gauge.  I was afraid the voicing of the steel string wouldn't properly blend with the nylon string voice, but it does indeed.  

When shedding it this morning, I had an idea to change the low E and A over to steel strings.  Doing so would result in the low three single courses being all steel strings.  Based on the voice of the low sub-D, I think changing all the bass single courses to phosphor bronze steel instead of lute nylon strings will bring added balance, clarity, and definition to this instrument.

Making an already unique and unusual voice even moreso.

-kk