PIRASTRO has traced the historical development of stringing for early
music in its program for viol strings in order to enable you to use
authentic stringing in today's high quality.
In principle, one
could still cover viols with bare gut strings down to the lowest string.
However, the excessive stiffness of monofilament, thick gut strings
significantly impairs the playability of lower tones.
The oldest
development from about 1660 is the spinning with copper wire. The most
popular version is the spinning with silver-plated copper wire, which
combines the advantages of a silver surface with the sound of a copper
string.
For studio recordings, Pirastro recommends silver-wound
gut strings with a polished surface. They are quiet when changing
layers. However, such strings were not manufactured until the 20th
century at the earliest.
- Sheep gut string, wound with aluminum
- 2 different gauges available
Pirastro Treble Gamba C4 string 253420; 253430.