Gamut Music. Inc.

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Do Gut Strings Smell?

By Adam Guggemos

Occasionally we see comments regarding the smell of natural gut strings: “putrid,” “musty,” “like rotting animal matter,” “similar to a wet dog,” “smelling of organs(??),” “vaguely of feces,” etc.

Correctly manufactured natural gut strings are just bonded collagen and are fairly inert in terms of pH and odor (although they are quite hygroscopic, meaning they can pick up smells from the surrounding environment or your perspiration if not properly cared for and mindfully stored). Once the gut material is properly cleaned, scraped, processed, twisted, dried, and polished, it should not smell like much of anything at all.

At the final stages of production, Gamut Music strings are hand-rubbed with a light oil (and coated with optional string varnish), which will be the most notable odor coming from the gut string.

Improper initial cleaning of the gut — removal of fat, feces, muscularis, submucosa, and muscularius muscosae — can lead to off-putting smells, but this is a flaw in the manufacturing process, not an inherent quality of correctly made gut strings.

Think of gut strings like a basement: if it smells there is a problem, because a basement (and gut strings) should not smell.

Historical Workshops

Now, did historical string-making workshops smell? Hundreds of years ago string workshops were frequently located close to abattoirs — for gut selection, speed, and freshness — which were adjacent to livestock yards; all of which were labeled as offensive “nuisance trades,” and were frequently regulated to districts outside or at the edge of the city.

So, most certainly:

“Likewise we order and command — both for the cleanliness of the town and for health, because of the harm that bad odors usually cause in it — that no person shall empty in the streets and squares of this town, nor at the doors of their houses, the broth of guts from which vihuela strings are made; on pain that for each time it is proven they have done the contrary, they shall pay three reales: two for the Inspector of Cleanliness or the person who reports it, and one for the judges who sentence it.”

[Spanish] Ordenanzas de la ciudad de Valladolid 1549-1818 (Ordinances of the city of Valladolid 1549-1818) - Valladolid City Hall; intro. by Fernando Pino Rebolledo. pp. 263, Scope Editions/Valladolid, Spain, 1988

“The Commissioners of the Bishop of London's Estate specifically preclude the following trades being carried out by their tenants: catgut-spinner, hog skinner, boiler of horse flesh, slaughter-man, soap boiler, melter of tallow, farrier, tinman, vintner, beer seller, and victualers, or any other noisesome or offensive trades.”

Paddington Estate Rules (c. 1795-1799) – Commissioners of the Bishop of London’s Estate - A History of the County of Middlesex, Vol. 9, Hampstead, Paddington. p. 237, Victoria County History/London, 1989

“Since it is likewise beneficial to public health that within the small precinct of the Court and other towns there should be no factories or manufactories that alter and considerably infect the atmosphere — such as soap-boiling works, tanneries, tallow-candle works, vihuela string-makers — nor the workshops of artisans who are engaged in alloying metals and minerals that infect the air, only warehouses or depots of already processed materials being permitted; the Governing Board shall propose to me whatever it deems appropriate to avoid the disastrous consequences that may arise from such tolerance.”

[Spanish] Novísima Recopilación de las Leyes de España (Newest Compilation of the Laws of Spain) - Charles IV King of Spain. pp. 725-726, Madrid, 1806

"In view of the complaints made by various individuals against factories and workshops whose operation gives rise to unhealthy or unpleasant fumes; The report made on these establishments by the chemistry section of the physical and mathematical sciences class of the institute; Our Council of State heard; We have decreed and do decree as follows:

From the publication of this decree, factories and workshops which spread an unsanitary or unpleasant odor may not be established without permission from the administrative authority…"

[French] Décret Impérial du 15/10/1810 Relatif aux Manufactures et Ateliers qui Répandent une Odeur Insalubre ou Incommode (Imperial Decree of 15/10/1810 Relating to Manufactures and Workshops Which Spread an Unsanitary or Unpleasant Odor) - Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation. Paris, 1810

Modern Workshops

In modern times however, livestock yards, abattoirs, and the initial gut selection process are an international business, frequently far removed from the actual string manufacturing. The selected gut is preserved in plastic drums and shipped. Upon arrival, it is stored and selected as needed, leading to very little smell or offense within the workshop itself, let alone to neighbors of the shop.