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Is This [Instrument String] Available in Sheep Gut?
Periodically, inquiries arise regarding the availability of sheep gut for certain instrument strings, prompting questions about why certain strings, such as those for X or Y instrument, are not offered in sheep gut.
It is crucial to recognize that sheep gut presents distinct intricacies compared to beef gut, stemming from differences in the respective animals’ digestive systems and the manufacturing processes involved. Sheep gut string manufacturing is characterized by unique labor costs and challenges in production, rendering it a relatively scarce and exceptionally valuable commodity. Consequently, decisions must be made regarding the allocation of our limited sheep gut stock.
For instance, upon conducting hearing tests, we determined that the discernible contrast between a violin D-3 Pistoy sheep gut string and its beef gut counterpart is less pronounced than that of the sheep gut and beef gut violin e-1 string. As a result, we have opted to concentrate our sheep gut production on treble strings.
Notably, the process of twisting the sheep violin D-3 Pistoy string presents its own set of challenges. The splitting of sheep gut results in left- and right-side threads. When the string is crafted with rights, it tends to be too small, while with lefts, it is frequently too large. This necessitates the production of four or five strings to obtain one of the appropriate size for the D-3 string, leading to significant waste.
It is our hope that, in the future, a more abundant and cost-effective supply of high-quality sheep gut will enable us to revisit the offering of sheep Pistoy strings.