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. Technical ConsiderationsTreble 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 ConsiderationsOne 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 ReadingBanjoEarly Music / Historically Informed PerformanceHistorical String-Making Care and Cleaning of Gut Strings String Calculator
