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.

String Calculator

Helpful Tools for Finding the Right String

Gamut Music has String Calculators that will enable you to find the correct strings for your instrument. Use them to check tensions, gauges, and play "what if" scenarios to see how changes in your instrument will effect your strings. Use our tables for String Lengths and String Tensions to find the perfect string for your instrument. You can learn more about how natural gut strings are made here.

Gamut Strings are Available in Three Formats

  • Standard Sets: Where the strings are grouped for particular instruments according to the most popular types. In these sets the gauges are matched to allow the best performance for the instrument and the most agreeable response for the player. The gauges are graduated according to modern performance practice so that the top string has the most tension and each successive lower string is decreased slightly in tension.

  • Equal Tension Sets: Where the strings are grouped in sets according to the recommendation of historical theoreticians such as Merssanne, who felt that for the instrument to be balanced and respond in proportion all the strings on the instrument should have the same tension.

  • Custom Gauged Strings: Each type of string we make is available in a range of gauges and can be custom polished for your application. If you do not see a gauge in the list of strings in the standard sets that you want, you can order the exact gauge you require in the type of string you want by selecting from the Custom Gauged String Catalog.

Types of Gamut Strings:

  • Sheep Gut - Treble gut for high and mid-range strings of most small instruments
  • Treble Gut: Used for high and mid-range strings of most small instruments.
  • Lyon Gut: Used for top strings on larger instruments like cellos and basses, mid-range and low strings on other instruments.
  • Pistoy Gut: Used for mid-range and low strings on most instruments.
  • Wound Strings: Used for low strings on most instruments.
  • Gimped Gut: Used for mid-range and low strings on most instruments.
  • Diapason Gut: Is long lengths of gut for archlutes, theorbos, etc.
  • Fret Gut - Made of beef serosa for tying frets onto historical instruments, such as lutes and viols
  • Tail Gut - Made of beef serosa used to attach the tailpiece onto the instruments of the violin family and some viols
  • Double-Length Strings - Two usable string lengths for the Violin e-1 and a-2, Viola a-1, and Treble Viol d-1 and a-2
  • Nylon Strings - DuPont Tynex® 612 nylon strings perfectly rectified with a high polish

Have Questions About String Choices?
Contact us with any string selection questions at support@gamutmusic.com