Academie Gut Banjo Strings
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Academie Gut Banjo Strings

Academie Banjo Gut String Set

AcademieSKU: BAN6
7 reviews
String Varnish: No Varnish
Price:
$141.78 USD

Description

    • Banjo 1st String: Treble Gut - 0.56mm / Single-Length, 48"/120cm

    • Banjo 2nd String: Treble Gut - 0.78mm / Single-Length, 48"/120cm

    • Banjo 3rd String: Lyon Gut - 1.06mm / Single-Length, 48"/120cm

    • Banjo 4th String: Gut/Silverplate-Wound - 0.82mm / Single-Length, 42"/106.5cm

    • Banjo 5th String: Treble Gut - 0.56mm / Single-Length, 48"/120cm

    • String Material: Beef Gut, Silverplate Wire

    • String Options: Varnish

    • Tuning Designation: a=440

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.

Gamut Music

Technical Considerations
Treble Gut is processed to be a little harder than the other kinds of gut. The string also has a lower twist of about 15 degrees. This construction gives it the strength and resistance it needs to stand the strain in the treble register. The color ranges from clear white to opaque yellow.

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.

Gut/Silverplate-Wound strings feature a gut core with silver-plated copper wire wound onto the gut in tandem with a thin silk layer between the core and the wire.

These are our standard recommended gauges for this instrument. 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
One of the most common wires seen on historical strings is silver-plated copper. Before the advent of electroplating, wire was plated with silver through a chemical process, and there are extant strings of this type that were made for the violin family and keyboard instruments. The wire we use, like the historical examples, is left round on the core. If the wire were polished the plating would be removed.

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
Early Music / Historically Informed Performance
Historical String-Making
Care and Cleaning of Gut Strings
String Calculator

See full details on Gamut Music's Return Policy, String Warranty, and Shipping Information.


Hand-made in the USA by Gamut Music, Inc., a leader in the revival of early music strings and instruments. Gut strings are not intended to be used with fine tuners or string adjusters, and Gamut Music recommends removing those devices before installing the gut string on the instrument.

All Gamut Academie strings (pure gut and gut/metal-wound) are made with beef gut (bovine serosa) unless they specifically say "sheep gut." All pure gut Tricolore violin and viola strings are made with sheep gut; Dependable Coated Violin Strings, gut/metal-wound Tricolore, and all Red Diamond strings are made with beef gut.

Gamut gut string gauges are approximate (≈) diameter. Meaning, that while a ≈0.60mm string is polished in the workshop to a diameter of 0.60mm, changes in ambient humidity, temperature, shipping, and storage conditions can cause the string to expand or contract slightly.

Gimped gut strings and gut/metal-wound equal tension strings are gauged with the equivalent-gauge (=) system. This means that the gauge listed, such as =1.50mm, indicates that the string is approximately equal in weight to a plain gut string of that diameter. Of course, because the wire is much heavier than gut, the string will be much thinner than a plain gut string.

More information about the care and cleaning of gut strings, Gamut Music string types, and string gauges and tensions can be found on our FAQ/Articles page. Not finding an answer to your question? Please contact us.