Description
The Lyon-style of gut string is a high twist, single spin construction that offers a tone that is full and warm with a powerful fundamental and complex, pleasing upper partials. The color tends towards opaque light to medium yellow.
Plain 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.
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Technical Considerations
Beef gut (beef serosa) has a higher tensile strength than does sheep gut, so this string is useful for instruments that require extra durability. If your instrument has a longer string length which puts it beyond the comfortable range for sheep gut strings, the beef gut would be a good choice for string selection as it will stand the strain a little better.
These are our standard recommended gauges for this instrument/string. For gauges outside of this range, see our Custom Gauged Strings section.
All Gamut string set prices are based off of the individual string prices; there is no penalty for ordering strings à la carte.
Historical Considerations
This type of string is named after the town in France which was famous for a particular type of flexible gut string. From the 16th century these strings were recommended as being some of the best strings for basses.
Banjos were very popular in the United States in the late 1800s, and consequently there are lots of strings that survive for us to measure and replicate. From the ones in the Gamut String Archive, it is evident that violin strings were repurposed and relabeled as banjo strings for the first, second, third, and fifth positions, with a guitar fourth string used for the banjo fourth.
Further Reading
Banjo
Historical String-Making
Care and Cleaning of Gut Strings
String Calculator
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