Natural strings for musical instruments

I have been trying to get ahold of “catgut” (actually sheep or other ruminant intestine, almost never cats!) for making new ukulele strings. A local sheep farmer says there is some kind of special regulation in place regarding the intestine. He said he would look into it. In the meantime, have you ever played or made catgut strings?

Having still not heard back, it seems like something where you have to be the farmer or hunter, obtain it semi-legally from a friend, or else maybe buy the gut commercially.

On the other hand there is a lute from Alaska which uses spruce root for a string. I have not tried, but it seems interesting. Maybe other kinds of tough roots would work too--honeysuckle? black locust? My guess is that it would have to be sufficiently dense and tough that you could string it and it would make a sound but not snap. In West Africa, akonting, etc. strings used to be made with palm roots before fishing line became available.

I wonder if "natural sausage casings" would work.  They are cleaned intestines of sheep or cow depending on the size.  I can special order them from most butcher departments in the grocery store, or the small butcher shop.  But the ones I got were packed in salt, so I don't know if that would still work.

I saw some real gut ukulele strings on amazon.ca but the price of one string was considerably more than I've paied for the ukulele and all the accessories so far.  

I am going to ask at my local string instrument shop in the next few weeks.  They are usually cheaper than amazon for stuff like this...usually.

Following your adventure with interest.  

While I cannot speak to musical instruments, I remember when I worked in an Operating Room that there was sutures referred to as catgut.

A bit of research indicates that some of them are in fact made of collagen sourced from ruminant intestine.

I was curious about the process and found a website that details it - https://shop.gamutmusic.com/pages/making-gut-strings?srsltid=AfmBOooy9WgB31OmH2zoflGvB7g4TtBel8gwyuO8BoIlUzfzXd7DNA_9

Looking up examples of silk strings, found this. It really sounds more like steel than like nylon to my ears!

Might be steel wrapped? It's hard to see close up.



This one definitely looks like real silk.

I got curious about the advantage of natural strings, especially gut strings as they seem the type I'm most likely to try and make.

Being able to make our own strings and the benifits of using a waste products that is biodegradable is a huge advantage.  

I called a locak shop and asked how much gut strings are to buy.  The price was two budget ukulele per string.  He also warned of a short shelf life, so don't buy extra before we need it.  I don't know what short shelf life is in string terms.  I wonder if there is a way to extend it.  I got the impression that this specific guitar shop guy is a fan of steel and metal strings.  This may bias his advise.

But how do they sound?

This guy is a wizzard with historical string instrument,  he seems to like them



And this one where he compares nylgut with gut strings



So. Yep.  Even over video with this crappy speaker, there is a significant difference fo the sound,

I wonder...

I was looking up catgut to see if one could get it in bulk. From a quick search it appears not, but one can get 2oz of fibre silk for much less. Makes me wonder, could we spin our own silk strings?

M Ljin wrote: ... one can get 2oz of fibre silk for much less. Makes me wonder, could we spin our own silk strings?

Silk and steel guitar strings have been around for decades and have a different feel and sound from other kinds (https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blogs/blog/whats-the-deal-with-silk-and-steel/). But like all guitar strings, the lower pitched ones have a thin metal winding layer to add weight without upsetting tension balance. As you can imagine, manufacturing wound strings is not a do-it-yourself project.

I mentioned in another thread that I don't enjoy changing strings, so I'm grateful for well-made, long-life strings. For that reason, I can't understand why anyone with other things to do (including playing the instrument!) would want to make strings that won't last nearly as long. Does permie orthodoxy favour compostable strings?

David Wieland wrote:

M Ljin wrote: ... one can get 2oz of fibre silk for much less. Makes me wonder, could we spin our own silk strings?

Silk and steel guitar strings have been around for decades and have a different feel and sound from other kinds (https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blogs/blog/whats-the-deal-with-silk-and-steel/). But like all guitar strings, the lower pitched ones have a thin metal winding layer to add weight without upsetting tension balance. As you can imagine, manufacturing wound strings is not a do-it-yourself project.

I mentioned in another thread that I don't enjoy changing strings, so I'm grateful for well-made, long-life strings. For that reason, I can't understand why anyone with other things to do (including playing the instrument!) would want to make strings that won't last nearly as long. Does permie orthodoxy favour compostable strings?

Well, I prefer compostable strings... if you don't then that's fine. But steel is also compostable!--and completely recyclable, along with other metals including silver.

The main issue is in replacing nylon, which I think is more problematic in terms of not only recycling or composting but manufacturing, with something that's less dependent on things we don't like going on.

It also seems as if the natural strings often have a lovely sound that is distinctive and more pleasant to the ear. It makes sense--we evolved listening to the sounds of natural materials, not so much plastic, even if it can imitate those natural materials well enough. There is a complexity and timbre that can be lost however despite the advantages in durability and volume. And there is also the connectedness to the materials that some consider an advantage.

I personally think steel strings can sound very lovely too. In some instruments they can be a bit tinny (very tinny) but, on a good guitar, violin, etc. it will sound amazingly lovely as you probably know. So the string makes a difference, but there is a lot that is up to the instrument.

r ransom wrote:
And this one where he compares nylgut with gut strings

So. Yep.  Even over video with this crappy speaker, there is a significant difference fo the sound,

That's interesting, because I hear only a slight difference, with the nylon being just a bit brighter (probably from more overtones). This comparison review is fair, but another way to affect the sound, as the tester implies, is to use more or less fingernail. Flesh naturally results in a softer sound even on nylon (or steel). Similarly, palm muting softens and damps the sound, a useful effect for some styles or passages.

I didn't watch the video past the initial comparison. Did he ever mention lifespan?

https://www.tumblr.com/peekofhistory/779807589187895296/making-guqin-silk-strings

A blog post on making silk guqin strings the traditional way, with some videos...

Somehow I got the information in my head that strings and frets are related.

Natural strings often go with non-fretted instruments.  And that frets were often made with gut string and moveable.  

I wonder if this is true or something imagined.  

Not only natural, but up-cycled: bicycle brake and gear cables. They take a little work to unwind and straighten, but have a great steel sound. Nearly all traditional African string instruments use them now.  

I've actually been wondering about this. Would, say, deer sinew work? I don't know how much tension is required for stringed instruments, but I imagine bowstrings and musical strings have a similar technical origin.

"Natural strings often go with non-fretted instruments.  And that frets were often made with gut string and moveable."

If soft sounding strings are the goal, then softer material is appropriate. Basic material physics dictates that repeatedly pressing a soft string against a hard fret will wear it faster than using (relatively) soft frets.

Movable frets are a feature of some traditional instruments -- the sitar is a notable example -- but that suits only particular styles of music.

You can make a string for a bow and arrow out of stinging nettle fibers, or raw hide, or sinew. If it’s strong enough for that it will be strong enough for an instrument. I don’t know if it would sound good though.

Nick Mick wrote:You can make a string for a bow and arrow out of stinging nettle fibers, or raw hide, or sinew. If it’s strong enough for that it will be strong enough for an instrument. I don’t know if it would sound good though.

I suspect that nettle or sinew might be too fuzzy. But rawhide might be one to try, as banjo membranes are made from rawhide so we know it resonates well (whereas a nettle bedsheet stretched out, is unlikely to do so). My impression is that in a string for a musical instrument, the individual fibers, typically, run the whole length of the instrument, hence why horsehair and silk are used but not wool. Or they interlock well enough that they appear as one, coherent fiber.

I don't have any rawhide but if I did I would try it!

A random experiment last year made me believe that it would be possible to make strings for musical instruments from fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) fibres. I made a piece of thin, reverse-wrapped string, which turned out very strong and made a nice sound when plucked under tension. See here.

Though I guess there's a reason people have used gut and root strings more than reverse-wrapped...

Thank you, that is wonderful to know!

I have heard ordinary fiber cordage make lovely sounds too--mostly by itself, though, as it seems not to sustain itself or resonate nearly as well in contact with wood.

I suspect that the structure of the cordage might be the issue rather than the material, in this case... maybe it would work better in a 5 or more strand round cord? I'll have to try...

Another plant fiber that I have high hopes for is black ash wood. I saw someone splitting it very finely the other day and it suddenly dawned on me that maybe this was the answer, something dense and relatively homogeneous, but still flexible.

M Ljin wrote:

Nick Mick wrote:You can make a string for a bow and arrow out of stinging nettle fibers, or raw hide, or sinew. If it’s strong enough for that it will be strong enough for an instrument. I don’t know if it would sound good though.

I suspect that nettle or sinew might be too fuzzy. But rawhide might be one to try, as banjo membranes are made from rawhide so we know it resonates well (whereas a nettle bedsheet stretched out, is unlikely to do so). My impression is that in a string for a musical instrument, the individual fibers, typically, run the whole length of the instrument, hence why horsehair and silk are used but not wool. Or they interlock well enough that they appear as one, coherent fiber.

I don't have any rawhide but if I did I would try it!

You can get rawhide from dog chew toys, they reconstitute in water. You unfold it then cut a spiral to make a string.