Gut Strings
Strings made from animal gut, mainly for string instruments; today used chiefly in historically informed performance.
What it means
Gut strings are strings made from the twisted intestines of lambs, used mainly to string bowed instruments. A historical lexicon describes them plainly as strings fashioned from the guts of lambs, employed chiefly for stringing bowed instruments.
To make them, cleaned strips of gut are treated in a lye bath and spun together into strands of the desired thickness. Sulphuring, drying, polishing, and oiling follow before the finished string is wound onto a reel. Good gut strings should be bright, translucent, and elastic; unevenly spun fibres produce impure tones.
Musical use
Until the early twentieth century, gut was the standard stringing material for violin, viola, cello, and double bass, before being increasingly displaced by steel and later synthetic-core strings, often wound with metal. Gut strings produce a warmer, richer-in-overtones but quieter and less pitch-stable sound than modern strings.
Performance practice
Today gut strings are used mainly in historically informed performance, when Baroque or Classical repertoire is played with a historically appropriate sound. They are more sensitive to temperature and humidity than modern strings and require more frequent retuning.