Gut vs. Steel cello strings - The saga continues

These days, gut strings are experiencing a renaissance. Every online stringed instrument forum has players who write with near religious fervor about the qualities of gut strings, and others who “just don’t get it.” And, with the ever-growing number of new brands and models of both steel and gut strings, it can break the bank (or the research account, for those lucky enough to have one) just to keep up with all the new possibilities. This year, I decided to give gut the “ol’ college try” even though I never had much luck playing on gut strings in the past. After trying both wound and unwound strings in many different gauges and brands, I centered in on some choices that could be used with a variety of tunings in all periods of music, which I’ll share in this post.

Side note: The practice of “winding strings” is an early 18th-century technology where metal wire is tightly wrapped around gut (or synthetic or metal) strings to increase the responsiveness and lessen the required thickness of lower-pitched strings. Almost all modern cello strings are “wound,” whether made of metal or gut, but early music specialists often use “unwound” gut strings for authenticity and sound on the A and D — a practice that was standard for all cellists until Pirastro popularized aluminum-wound gut A and D strings in the 1960s. (Pirastro had started using aluminum to wind higher pitched strings by the early 50s, but it took time for them to replace the unwound A and D strings used by Pablo Casals, Emanuel Feuermann, and other giants of the mid-20th century cello world.) Legend holds that metal strings for cellists were invented and used widely during World War II because sheep intestine shortages and production issues made the preferred gut strings scarce. In fact, metal strings were used earlier, and there was a gradual migration from pre-WWII decades through the 1970s as string technologies improved and tastes made steel a viable alternative to gut. Parallel to the later part of this general migration away from gut strings was the growing “early music” movement where musicians devote themselves to “historically informed performance,” both from artistic and technical perspectives. One idea here is that, by using instruments and strings similar to the ones to which a historical composer was accustomed, we come closer to realizing the composer’s vision. So, while most string players were switching from gut to steel strings during the middle decades of the 20th century (many via the purgatory of Dominant brand synthetic-core metal-wound strings in the 1970s and early 80s), a growing and very passionate subset of players were switching back to gut. But I digress, and that is fodder for another post — so back to the details of my gutsy year:

During the initial stages of my gut string saga, I tried every gauge of wound and unwound strings made by “Gamut” - a high-quality American string manufacturer that makes historically accurate strings with great precision. I was immediately drawn to the sound of their medium-plus gauge strings on my modern cello, but eventually settled in on heavy gauge to increase dynamic possibilities when leaning in with the bow is required. Heavy-plus gauge strings were just too tight and deadened the tone of my instrument. Any gauge lighter than medium+ proved impractical on an instrument with a modern bridge, soundpost, and bass bar setup, although these strings can undoubtedly work great on baroque instruments with a lighter “setup.” When testing all the strings I used a Saddle Rider brand Adjustable Saddle and a Saddle Rider Wolf Resonator button-style string clamp, both of which proved helpful in getting the best tone and response from all gauges of gut strings, which are more sensitive to harmonic overtones and frequency resonances than steel strings.

The upshot: Although I loved the character of unwound gut, I ended up using the following more conventional “all gut” string combination as a happy medium when playing with violinists who use steel strings.

A: Pirastro “Olive” Aluminum wound med. gauge

D: Pirastro “Eudoxa” Aluminum wound med. gauge

G and C: Pirastro “Olive” med. gauge

One unexpected side effect of aluminum-wound strings was that they made my fingers black. This phenomenon was apparent even when the strings were new, but became extreme after they were on the cello for a couple of months. Because it is hard to wash off the aluminum residue, and accumulative aluminum ingestion may cause long term health issues, I decided to pair the silver-wound Pirastro Olive gut C and G strings with Larsen “Il Canone” medium gauge steel A and D strings for most repertoire, switching to unwound gut A and D strings when there is a particular artistic reason to do so.

For a comparison of the subtle differences between all 4 gut strings as compared to steel A and D strings paired with gut G and C strings, here is an informal video where I play a movement of Bach switching between the string types in a typical, medium acoustic, small concert hall.

Comparison Video Gut vs. Steel Cello Strings

A cautionary note to any readers who may want to try gut strings with a modern instrument that has fine tuners: I learned the hard way that it is a good idea to wrap the gut knot with a piece of teflon plumber’s tape to prevent the tuner from breaking the string! (see image below)

As the saga continues, I’ll report back with more info in future blog posts.

Bye for now!
JHE