Due to the end-of-year holidays, the Gamut workshop will be in operation limited hours through the end of the year.

Please Note: selected shipping has no bearing on how long your order will take in the string workshop. Gamut strings are hand-made to order — shipping timelines are calculated from when your order leaves the workshop, not when the order was placed. We will send a sales receipt with tracking # when your order leaves the shop.

International Orders: are subject to customs/VAT ("landed cost") fees at the receiving end. Gamut Music has no control over carrier- or government-imposed taxes or fees. See our Shipping & Returns Policy and Authorized Worldwide Dealers for additional details.

Tricolore Viola Strings

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Tricolore strings are designed for modern performance practice at a=440.

These are the classic Tricolore sheep gut strings as used by 20th century virtuosos and many players interested in reproducing this historical tone.

Plain sheep gut strings are available with a natural or varnish finish. Natural strings are hand-rubbed with a light oil. Varnished strings have three coats of finish before being hand polished with the oil. There is an additional charge for varnished strings. Tricolore gut/metal-wound strings are made with beef serosa.

The Tricolore brand, used by many famous soloists, was one of the most well known strings made in the 20th century. Now, after many decades of being unavailable, we are pleased to offer these strings again. This string was developed by Ray Neiner at the Perfection Musical String Co. Brunswick, IN, just south of Chicago. The machines we use at Gamut Music to make the strings were purchased from the Perfection company, and in addition to the machines, we also received the formulations that Perfection used to make their strings, including the Tricolore brand. We have in our archives a copy of the Perfection workshop book that specifies the gauge of gut used for the cores, the size of the wires, length of the strings, and colors of the thread used for the stockings at the top and bottom of the strings. In addition to this practical information, we also received instruction for the special curing treatment that the gut cores went through before being wound and the specific techniques used in winding the wire onto the gut core. These strings are accurate replications of the ones that filled American concert halls with sound in the 20th century.

One update we have made to the original string design is the addition of a 3-D printed ball end on each string. Modern tailpieces are made with wider string slots than those of the early 20th century and a gut knot is no longer big enough to hold the string in place. The ball end will keep the string from pulling through the tailpiece.

Use our String Calculators to find the correct strings for your instrument. You can find Specific String Tensions here.

Get the most from your Gamut strings with our care and cleaning recommendations.