Nylgut Strings by Aquila

[balfour-knight]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to post this and let you all know about my new 2nd-octave Nylgut strings from Aquila! I love them! They beautifully bridge the gap between the real gut strings in the 3rd octave and the nylon strings in the 1st and zero octaves. The color of the C and F strings is the same red and black you generally find in Premier gut strings. The “white” or “natural colored” strings are a “heavy whipping cream” color, very visible in poor light, much more visible than gut or nylon. They are easy to install, just like gut, they pull up to pitch very well, and they begin to hold their pitch after a day or two. I can play the harp for about an hour without having to retune now. Their tone is amazingly like Premier gut in the 2nd octave, their cost is far cheaper than gut, and they are supposed to be long-lived. Add to this, Aquila USA provides fast, reliable, customer-friendly service. I could not be more pleased! (www.aquilausa.com) If you are not in the USA, you may order from Aquila’s headquarters in Italy.

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[wil-weten]

Hi Balfour, I’m glad you’re happy with them.

[balfour-knight]

Hi Wil!

Today I am even more impressed with my new Nylgut strings in the 2nd Octave! When I went to tune them after breakfast this morning, I was amazed to find that the lowest four of them had held their pitch overnight, and the others required only a very slight adjustment. Their tone is very rich and deep, with a long ring tone, longer than either real gut or nylon.

Last night, I played Hasselmans’ La Source on my beautiful harp, and could not believe the improvement in the sound from these new strings. Anyone who knows this concert etude can attest to the fact that many of the high melody notes are on the 2nd-octave strings. They ring out like never before! Like the young folks say, “I was totally blown away!” ha, ha!

Try some of these nylguts, everyone–you won’t believe it!

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

I continue to be in love with these new Nylgut strings! They sound and play much better than the nylons do, which are above them in the first and zero octaves, now that I have gotten used to the wonderful sound and feel of the Nylguts. I am planning to purchase more Nylguts so that I can try them all the way up to the top of my harp. The “heavy whipping cream” color is so much more visible than the nylons–it will make playing up there a pure joy! I will let you all know how this ends up!

Have a great harping day, my friends,
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

Eagerly awaiting more Nylgut strings!
Happy New Year, everybody!
Balfour and Carol Lynn

[balfour-knight]

I received the top five Nylgut strings for my pedal harp and have successfully installed them. Even at those high pitches, the gut sound of these new Nylguts holds true! I know why some harpists brave the expense of gut up there, although they tend to break more than I would like, ha, ha!

A tip from Aquila about installing these very thin, high-pitched strings–when you put them on, tune them flat to a “step” below (I pulled them up just to the second string below the one I was installing.) In other words, when putting on an F, tune it to the D below it. The next day, tune all of the new ones up to the pitch of the string below them. Later in the day, or the next day preferably, finish pulling all of them up to pitch. This used to be recommended for gut strings anyway!

These sound really good on my harp, like Premier gut with a little more sustain, which I love! It all depends on their longevity at this point, for the “long haul.”

Does anyone reading this have experience with how long these Nylguts will last on a harp?

Have a great harping day, everyone!
Balfour

[steven-amazeen]

Hi Balfour,

I can’t tolerate the sound of nylon or carbon (PVF) strings in the first octave and have been making do with gut, so I’m really interested in your experience with Nygut.

It’s been a long time (somewhere around 15 years) since I tried Nylgut on my Camac Blue. They stretched out immensely and became quite fragile/false within a few days. At the time I recall Mimmo Peruffo (owner of Aquila Corde) telling me that at that time Nylgut was not formulated for “high tension” but rather as gut alternative for historical “low tension” instruments. I also had to dye the red and black strings by hand which was a huge mess.

Were these for your Camac Atlantide? I’m happy to hear that they are holding up as last time I put them on a on my harp it didn’t work too well because I used them for something they weren’t designed for at the time.

Aquila also makes a bio-plastic string that they call Sugar Strings that are supposed to to have a sound somewhere between gut and PVF.

Ugh! Too many choices! ;^)

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Steve

[balfour-knight]

Hi Steve!

I enjoyed reading your post. Yes, these new Nylgut strings are for my Camac Atlantide Prestige, made in 2016. I think these new strings are quite different from those you tried around 15 years ago! These are especially for harps, and are called NGH.

When I got this beautiful harp back in 2017, the 2nd octave gut strings started breaking, so that 4 of them had broken in the first 3 or 4 months I had the harp. I never had this problem on the L&H 85 harps that I owned previously. I contacted Camac, and they had their head tech, Liza Jensen, examine my harp. She could find no problem! I replaced the broken ones, of course, but they continued to break as before. So, I reluctantly changed over to 2nd octave nylon strings by D’Addario. I had to re-regulate, of course, but I have never had one break over these past years. I do restring every couple of years, though, so I can only say that the D’Addarios will last that long.

When I noticed the post by Wil Weten here in these forums, I decided to try Nylgut, as I do not care for the 2nd octave “nylon sound.” I’m so glad I did! Together with Curtis Daily at Aquila, USA, we worked out a scale based on what Camac recommends for the real gut strings. So far, the strings are doing great, as I have posted.

I have not been interested in the new “sugar strings,” since they are difficult to pull up and have oversized gauges which adds tension to the harp. I have also heard about their “bright” sound, which I believe to be too much like nylon. The best compliment that I can give these new Nylguts is that they sound like the Premier gut strings on my harp, which are my favorite gut strings of all time, from the Atlanta Harp Center, made in France.

Steve, I know you like to design your own scale and gauges, but if you would like to know the gauges I am using, I will be happy to post them here.

Thanks for your post, Steve, and have a great harping day!
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

Update! My new Nylgut NGH harp strings are doing very well on my harp and sound just like the Premier guts in the 3rd through 5th octaves which were already on the harp.

I copied this from the Aquila USA website:

Please note: NGH strings are special order by request. They are listed as “in stock” so that they can be ordered. Delivery times are 3-8 weeks. Please place your order and we will inform you of the approximate turnaround time. If there is sufficient demand we will actively stock all gauges and colors.

NGH strings (made with the New Nylgut®) are the color of natural gut, have the same density as gut (gauges are the same as gut) and possess acoustical qualities similar to natural gut. Nylgut is considered the first “synthetic” version of natural gut.
Other strong points of the NGH strings are excellent resistance under tension -greater than that of gut – but even more important is its extraordinary immunity to changes of climate, considerably better than nylon and gut, insuring stability of tuning under normal conditions.

Available in natural gut color, red, or black. Gauges through 145 are supplied in 120cm length.

[balfour-knight]

Update–after about a month of being on my harp now, the new Nylguts are still doing well and sounding great! I can’t tell without looking at my strings, where the real guts end and the Nylguts begin! One really nice benefit of the Nylguts is the deep, longer sustain, when compared to real gut. Also, as advertised, the Nylguts are not affected by temperature and humidity changes like the real guts and nylons are. This bizarre western-North Carolina winter weather has proven that, ha, ha!

Try it out–you might like it!
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

Update! I finished installing all sixteen New Nylguts on my Camac Atlantide Prestige concert grand yesterday. I am attaching a photo of the finished effort, so you can see how visible the “heavy whipping cream” color is for the natural Nylgut strings. The F’s are jet-black, and the C’s are a deep, bright red. I am very pleased with the final results. I had to wait a bit for all of the Nylguts to come from Italy, but Curtis at Aquila USA was very prompt with my order. He gets an A+ in customer service!

Have a great harping day, my friends,
Balfour

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[balfour-knight]

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I am so pleased with my New Nylgut strings that I can hardly keep my hands off my beautiful harp, ha, ha! Angelica has never sounded better. It is like having gut strings all the way to the top of the harp, and I don’t have to adjust my plucking technique to accommodate the former nylon strings in the 2nd, 1st, and Zero octaves. The overall sound and tonal improvement is really something to behold, and everyone who has heard this harp since the “transformation” has been enthusiastic about the New Nylguts!

Hope all of you are playing beautiful harp music for your special Valentine!
Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[balfour-knight]

Update–the new nylgut strings have now been on my pedal harp since Dec. 24–THREE MONTHS, and they are doing great! Has anyone else tried them? Please let me know here on this thread.

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

[Sid Humphreys]

I contacted them about 2 months ago, but they wanted the gauge for all the strings. I’m an L&H 23. Don’t know the gauges, so I gave up (easily).

[balfour-knight]

Hello Sid,

I am happy to post the gauges (metric) for the pedal-harp New Nylgut strings below:
(You do have to specify Natural, Black or Red.) These indeed do sound like real gut strings.

0G–.44mm
0F–.46mm Black
1E–.48
1D–.50
1C–.52 Red
1B–.54
1A–.56
1G–.60
1F–.64 Black
2E–.66
2D–.70
2C–.73 Red
2B–.76
2A–.82
2G–.85
2F–.88 Black
3E–.91
3D–.94
3C–1.00 Red
3B–1.04
3A–1.08
3G–1.12
3F–1.20mm Black

Most of us who play the pedal harp like to keep real gut strings on our 4th and 5th Octaves, but you could try the New Nylgut there and experiment to see if you like it. The thickest Nylgut gauge is 2.40mm, but the lowest gut string, 5th octave A, would only use a 2.29 or 2.30mm. I could provide Nylgut gauges for the 4th and 5th Octaves if any of you would like those too.

I hope this helps. I meant to post these earlier–thanks for asking, Sid.

Harp Hugs,
Balfour

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