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String Economics 101 - Revisited
Regular customers of Gamut Music will notice that the price of sheep gut strings increased last year. The price of sheep gut strings went up while the price of the beef gut strings has remained relatively flat. This price change is not due to any quality difference between the two types of strings, but rather it is because of the different ways in which the raw material is traded and a short explanation might help clear up some confusion about the price structure.
Sheep gut is traded on the international market as a commodity like oil, soybeans, and precious metals. The material originates in some country like New Zealand or Australia and is sold to brokers who have contracts with the producers. The material is then offered on the international market where it is bid upon by other companies who wish to purchase it for import into their local market. The price of the winning bid is dependent on the strict rules of supply and demand and thus, the price of the material can swing widely to the end buyer as the market ebbs and flows.
The supply of sheep gut has become restricted and uncertain in recent times, and different events can conspire to drive up the cost of sheep gut — drought, disease, conflict, etc. — but another contributing factor has been the popularity of a small, spicy sausage in Japan and China. When we first started making strings we chose as our preferred material a size of sheep gut casing that was not used or valued by the sausage industry and we therefore could purchase this size material for much less than other sizes of casings that were used for sausage manufacturing. It is unfortunate that this spicy sausage uses the same size that we do and now we have to compete with that industry for material, which drives up the cost and reduces the available supply.
We get our sheep gut material from only one supplier that meets our standards of quality. The price of thicker strings have gone up more because the cost is dependent on how many gut ribbons go into the construction. Since the number of ribbons increases logarithmically as the diameter increases, the cost of the string increases proportionally.
In addition, 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.
Beef serosa, on the other hand, has a completely different pricing structure. We purchase the material directly from trusted producers so there are no middlemen involved in the transaction to drive up the cost. This material is used only for string making so we don't have to compete with other industries for the supply. The result is a much lower cost that is not subject to the whims of a temperamental market. Also, the beef serosa is available in different widths so we can purchase a wider array of material that has more mass that can build up the larger diameters of gut faster and thereby reduce the cost of labor as well. All factors considered, beef serosa is a more economical material than sheep gut and we have structured string prices to reflect this.
Sheep gut is not the only string making material that has gone up in price in recent times. Since the economy of the USA and other countries has been fragile for so long now, many people have been purchasing precious metals as an investment and as a way to shelter money. This trend has caused the price of sterling silver to fluctuate dynamically, resulting in our need to raise the price of gut/silver-wound strings. Each time we have to purchase silver wire for strings we have to pay more for the material, as we have to purchase it on the open market and whatever the price of silver is that day is the price we have to pay.
At Gamut Music we are committed to offering gut strings to a wide range of clientele, so for those musicians who do not feel the need to incur the expense of a sterling silver-wound string we offer strings wound with silverplate and copper wire, so there should be a gut/metal-wound string in our catalog for every price point.
The nature of the international commodity market will never really change, but we will continue to endeavor in sourcing ethical, high quality string material suitable for early music and modern music performance practice.
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Hand-made in the USA by Gamut Music, Inc., a leader in the revival of early music strings and instruments. Gut strings are not intended to be used with fine tuners or string adjusters, and those devices should be removed before installing the gut string on the instrument.
All Gamut Academie strings (pure gut and gut/metal-wound) are made with beef serosa unless they specifically say "Sheep Gut." All pure gut Tricolore violin and viola strings are made with sheep gut; gut/metal-wound Tricolore and all Red Diamond strings are made with beef serosa.
Gamut gut string gauges are approximate (≈) diameter. Meaning, that while a ≈0.60mm string is polished in the workshop to a diameter of 0.60mm, changes in ambient humidity, temperature, shipping, and storage conditions can cause to string to expand or contract slightly.
Gimped gut strings and custom gauged equal tension strings are gauged with the equivalent-gauge (=) system. This means that the gauge listed, such as =1.50mm, indicates that the string is approximately equal in weight to a plain gut string of that diameter. Of course, because the wire is much heavier than gut, the string will be much thinner than a plain gut string.
More information about Gamut gut strings, string types, gauges, and string tensions can be found on our FAQ/Articles page. Not finding an answer to your question? Please contact us.