The sound of a string is affected by many factors including gauge (thickness), core material and wrapping (winding). Every material has its own special type of sound and stretchiness, which affects its ability to stay in tune. Some sound brighter or darker, softer or louder, more or less responsive. Some are heavier than others, and therefore take longer to set in motion with the bow.

GUT Not cat gut, but sheep gut was the first source of strings for the violin family. Some people still make sheep gut strings by hand, as was done 400 years ago. Early music aficionados often prefer gut strings, as they try to approximate the sounds of an earlier time. The sound of a gut string may be considered sweeter by some, but the sound is soft, and often difficult to produce. Gut strings are easily affected by the temperature or humidity of the environment, and break easily. Synthetic strings made of nylon try to imitate gut, for example "perlon" and "synlon," which are brand-names for commercial nylon. They are more durable than gut strings, and also stay in tune longer. The artificial gut may also provide a slightly brighter tone than the real thing. GUT OR PERLON CORE Halfway between gut strings and steel strings, are composite strings, made of gut or nylon and wound with various metals. These strings are more durable than solid gut or nylon strings, but have a smoother, softer tone, and are more stretchable than steel strings. They will go out of tune quicker than steel strings, and must be tuned from the pegs. On the other hand, steel strings must be tuned with fine tuners. Many cellists prefer to use a bright sounding "A" steel string, and have the other strings be perlon wound with metal. The "D" string is often wound with aluminum, and silver is common for "G" and "C." STEEL CORE Few of the purely metal strings are simply solid wires, but are straight wires wound with metal, or twisted strands of wire wound with metal. Steel strings are often less expensive than those with nylon or gut cores, and stay in tune longer. They also tend to have a brighter sound. Thus they are appreciated both by beginning students (from the tuning standpoint), and by professionals who desire a loud tone for projection to larger audiences. WINDINGS The metal winding around strings may be made of gold (rare), aluminum, silver, tungsten or chrome-steel. The heavier metals are used to wind the lower sounding strings, for example silver might be found on the cello "G" or "C" string. Aluminum is found on "D" strings, and "chrome steel" on "A" strings. Tungsten is a heavier metal, and therefore found on the lower strings. It is louder, with a quicker response.

GAUGE

Gauge means "thickness." The gauge of a string affects the loudness and tone. A thicker string will be louder but slower to respond. Conversely, a thinner string will respond quickly, but produce less sound. Most string manufacturers produce three gauges: light, medium and heavy.

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