Some still use the term ‘gut-string guitar’ to refer to any classical-style instrument, but nylon plain and wire-wrapped nylon silk core strings are far more commonplace today.ĭuring WWII, a shortage of materials prompted New York luthier Albert Augustine to try nylon line as a guitar string. Genuine gut strings are still favoured by musicians who play early styles of music, and they are available from Aquila, Damian Dlugolecki, Pyramid and others. The plain strings were dried, scraped and twisted gut, while bass strings had gut cores wrapped with silver wire to add the mass necessary for low-frequency vibration without making them too stiff to be playable. During that era, strings were made from animal intestines – hence the name ‘gut strings’. Prior to that, octave and unison string pairs were used to achieve fullness and volume, and the practice continues with mandolin-style instruments. The six-string guitar as we know it began to become standardised only towards the end of the 18th century. The drivers behind the evolution of acoustic guitar strings have been much the same as those that drove the development of guitar amplifiers – namely the quest for improved clarity and higher volume.
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