Natural gut strings
- Thread starter CT Rick
- Start date
iamesperambient
Well-known member
i dont know about violin but aquila makes true gut strings i think only for soprano sized ukes though.
not sure who else makes them.
stevepetergal
Well-known member
Aquila might still sell gut ukulele strings. I saw some for sale (soprano) a year ago, or so. Can't seem to find them now. Hmm... By the way, why?
iamesperambient
Well-known member
http://www.aquilacorde.com/modern-i...instrument-products/3178/genuine-gut/?lang=en
could prob email mimmo and ask where to get a set.
iamesperambient
Well-known member
as far as i can tell no one sells the gut strings i saw one listing on ebay but their sold maybe mimmo can shed some light on this.
Mattyukaholic
Well-known member
Clifford Essex make excellent gut strings that last well. Not sure what shipping to the States would be.
http://www.cliffordessex.net/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=42
http://www.cliffordessex.net/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=42
iamesperambient
Well-known member
i wont use gut strings for moral reason but just curious if they make gut strings for larger ukes?
Mattyukaholic
Well-known member
Up to tenor size. Not baritone though.
iamesperambient
Well-known member
ah ok ya ive heard seen them sold in general. Interesting i heard they get very brittle
and don't last very long not sure how true that is though.
Mattyukaholic
Well-known member
Yeah they certainly won't last as long as fluorocarbons or nylguts. The Clifford Essex ones are treated with a waterproof coating which makes them last way longer than traditional gut strings. You can't take them off one uke and put them on another though (if you want to try them on different ukes) because they crystallise wherever they are bent e.g. over the saddle/around the tuning pegs.
Bill Mc
Well-known member
Last edited:
A explain about gut strings (i really dont know what are) from wikipedia:
Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines.Usually sheepor goat intestines are used, but it is occasionally made from the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, ordonkeys.
Production
In order to prepare catgut, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped in water. After that, the external membrane is scraped off with a blunt knife. The intestines are then once again steepedfor some time in lye (a caustic alkali, usually potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide), and then smoothed and equalized by drawing out. It is found that lean animals yield the toughest gut.[5] Next the prepared gut strands are twisted together to make the string. The diameter of the string is determined by the thickness of the individual guts and by the number that are used. For example, a very thin string such as a violin E will use only three or four guts, whereas a very heavy string, such as a double bass string, may use twenty or more. After twisting and drying, the strings are polished to the requisite diameter. Before the twentieth century the strings were simply rubbed with an abrasive to smooth them, while today they are generally ground down to the desired diameter using acenterless grinder. After drying and polishing the strings are bleached using the antiseptic action of the fumes of burning sulfur (i.e. sulfur dioxide), dyed if necessary, and sorted into sizes. Catgut sutures are normally treated with chromium salt solution to resist body enzymes, to slow the absorption process, and are called catgut chromic sutures whereas untreated catgut sutures are called catgut plain sutures. Before 1900 the best strings for musical instruments were reputedly from Italy. The best were considered to be from Naples, though excellent strings were also produced in Rome and other Italian cities. Today high quality gut strings are produced mostly in Italy, Germany, and the United States, though they are also made in developing countries such as India and Morocco for local use.
Common uses
For a long period, catgut was the most common material for the strings of harps, lutes, violins, violas, and cellos and other stringed musical instruments, as well as older marching snare drums. Most musical instruments produced today use strings with cores made of other materials, generally steel or synthetic polymer. Gut strings are the natural choice for many classical and baroque string players,[citation needed] and gut strings are still most commonly preferred in concert-tension pedal/grandand some lever harps because they give a richer, darker sound as well as withstanding high tension within low alto, tenor, and high-bass ranges.
In my country you eat the intestines, dont put them on instruments... is called "chinchulin"
Pompon.
Catgut is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fibre found in the walls of animal intestines.Usually sheepor goat intestines are used, but it is occasionally made from the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, ordonkeys.
Production
In order to prepare catgut, the intestines are cleaned, freed from fat, and steeped in water. After that, the external membrane is scraped off with a blunt knife. The intestines are then once again steepedfor some time in lye (a caustic alkali, usually potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide), and then smoothed and equalized by drawing out. It is found that lean animals yield the toughest gut.[5] Next the prepared gut strands are twisted together to make the string. The diameter of the string is determined by the thickness of the individual guts and by the number that are used. For example, a very thin string such as a violin E will use only three or four guts, whereas a very heavy string, such as a double bass string, may use twenty or more. After twisting and drying, the strings are polished to the requisite diameter. Before the twentieth century the strings were simply rubbed with an abrasive to smooth them, while today they are generally ground down to the desired diameter using acenterless grinder. After drying and polishing the strings are bleached using the antiseptic action of the fumes of burning sulfur (i.e. sulfur dioxide), dyed if necessary, and sorted into sizes. Catgut sutures are normally treated with chromium salt solution to resist body enzymes, to slow the absorption process, and are called catgut chromic sutures whereas untreated catgut sutures are called catgut plain sutures. Before 1900 the best strings for musical instruments were reputedly from Italy. The best were considered to be from Naples, though excellent strings were also produced in Rome and other Italian cities. Today high quality gut strings are produced mostly in Italy, Germany, and the United States, though they are also made in developing countries such as India and Morocco for local use.
Common uses
For a long period, catgut was the most common material for the strings of harps, lutes, violins, violas, and cellos and other stringed musical instruments, as well as older marching snare drums. Most musical instruments produced today use strings with cores made of other materials, generally steel or synthetic polymer. Gut strings are the natural choice for many classical and baroque string players,[citation needed] and gut strings are still most commonly preferred in concert-tension pedal/grandand some lever harps because they give a richer, darker sound as well as withstanding high tension within low alto, tenor, and high-bass ranges.
In my country you eat the intestines, dont put them on instruments... is called "chinchulin"
Pompon.
Osprey
Well-known member
That is a lot of good information. Thanks for posting
Cliff
Cliff
Rick Turner
Well-known member
The missing step in the above info is the slitting of the gut into strips that are then twisted together after all the other processing. Nasty process, interesting sounding strings. There are a number of YouTube videos of the process.
I liked the sound on my uke, but they started shredding at the fret positions pretty quickly. They'd last a lot longer on a fretless instrument.
I liked the sound on my uke, but they started shredding at the fret positions pretty quickly. They'd last a lot longer on a fretless instrument.
bnolsen
Well-known member
i wonder how many sets i could get out of the neighbor's cat. a really bad thing about gut strings...they need constant tuning, like every song or two. weather changes are really bad too.
iamesperambient
Well-known member
That's not cool to even joke about dude, that's really mean as my cat is sitting here on my lap :/
southcoastukes
Well-known member
Here is another source for gut - Aquila USA:
http://www.aquilausa.com/
It's been awhile since I used any gut strings. It's not the sound most people go for today - mellow lows combined with bright highs, but there's nothing like it for a vintage vibe. I really had to knock it off because I'm generally playing on the porch. Louisiana humidity and gut strings are a horrible match.
BTW, I can understand the trepidation of some to use them, but animals are never killed for their intestines - strings are always a by-product.
Nylgut was made to imitate the sound of true gut, and there's a relation between Nylgut gauges and gut gauges. I was looking through my old documents to try to find some notes on that, but maybe I didn't keep them. I do remember that you can use Nylgut gauges as a base, and adjust from there with real gut. I want to say that you go one gauge thinner from Nylgut to Gut. It could be the other way around, but I doubt it.
Curtis Daly is the Aquila distributor that runs this site, and he could answer that question if you need to be sure.
http://www.aquilausa.com/
It's been awhile since I used any gut strings. It's not the sound most people go for today - mellow lows combined with bright highs, but there's nothing like it for a vintage vibe. I really had to knock it off because I'm generally playing on the porch. Louisiana humidity and gut strings are a horrible match.
BTW, I can understand the trepidation of some to use them, but animals are never killed for their intestines - strings are always a by-product.
Nylgut was made to imitate the sound of true gut, and there's a relation between Nylgut gauges and gut gauges. I was looking through my old documents to try to find some notes on that, but maybe I didn't keep them. I do remember that you can use Nylgut gauges as a base, and adjust from there with real gut. I want to say that you go one gauge thinner from Nylgut to Gut. It could be the other way around, but I doubt it.
Curtis Daly is the Aquila distributor that runs this site, and he could answer that question if you need to be sure.
iamesperambient
Well-known member
Interesting i had no idea aquila had a US distributor ! neat!
Telperion
Well-known member
I have used the Clifford Essex strings on vintage ukes, and didn't find that they needed tuned all the time. They settled in nicely for me and are also fairly durable. As Matt said, they treat them with a water repellent of some sort that prevents absorption of moisture from your hands and from humidity, so they tend to fray much less. They have a smoother feel and clear appearance, unlike the Aquila gut strings, which I happen to despise. The Aquila gut, to me, has a texture and appearance of dried pasta. The Clifford Essex are smooth and actually feel nice. And, yes, they absolutely make tenor and concert sizes. I have only tried the soprano and concerts, though. To get them over to the U.S., shipping is a little steep, but it is the same whether you order one set or ten, so you can get your average cost down if you order more than one set.
I think these are fun to try, and to really hear that vintage tone on an old uke, but there are many reasons (other than animal ethics) why very few people use these today. Fluorocarbon strings are generally superior in every way, and in my experiences with gut strings, I have always reverted back to FC's after a quick bit of novelty experimentation.
Oh, and gut strings are almost always made from goat or sheep intestine. Your cats are all safe.
-Steve
