Strings Violin

strings first made of sheep gut (commonly known catgut, despite name did not come cats), or gut, stretched, dried, , twisted. in years of 20th century, strings made of either gut, silk, aluminum, or steel. modern strings may gut, solid steel, stranded steel, or various synthetic materials such perlon, wound various metals, , plated silver. e strings unwound, either plain or gold-plated steel. currently, violin strings not made gut much, many performers use them achieve specific sound in historically informed performance of baroque music. strings have limited lifetime. when violinist plays string, oil hands , sweat can damage strings. well, rosin bow can accumulate on part bowed. eventually, when oil, dirt, sweat , rosin accumulate, string can become old , dirty. apart obvious things, such winding of string coming undone wear, players change string when no longer plays true (with intonation on harmonics), losing desired tone, brilliance , intonation. string longevity depends on string quality , playing intensity. in 2010s, huge variety of strings available.