Gamut Music, Inc. specializes in early music strings and handcrafted instruments made by Dan Larson, luthier, located in Duluth, Minnesota, USA.
The Gamut Music string workshop provides hand-made natural gut strings in many styles suitable for early music / historically informed performance and modern music performance practice.
All Gamut Academie strings (pure gut and gut/metal-wound) are made with beef serosa unless they specifically say “Academie Gold Sheep Gut.” All pure gut Tricolore violin and viola strings are made with sheep gut; gut/metal-wound Tricolore and all Red Diamond bass strings are made with beef serosa.
Most* Gamut Academie strings are designed for Baroque instruments by those musicians playing historical performance practice at a=415 tuning, and are perfectly suitable for modern a=440 practice, but the result will be a little bit more tension at a=440. (*Academie Renaissance lute, vihuela, classical guitar, and banjo strings are designed for a=440 tuning.) Tricolore violin and viola, and Red Diamond strings are designed for modern performance practice at a=440.
Hand-made Gamut Workshop instruments include guitars, violins, vihuelas, and Renaissance and Baroque lutes.
A mailing list is available which will keep those interested up to date with the instruments and strings available from Gamut Music. Occasional messages will include information about instruments for sale and special offers on strings. Go to our mail list sign up page to be placed on this mailing list.
Learn about the proper care and cleaning of Gamut natural gut strings.
Convert string gauges between Pirazzi-meter (Pirastro Measure; PM), thousandths of an inch, and millimeter.
Our string calculator can calculate the gauges of gut strings on almost any instrument with the provided mensur.
Order Timelines: It is always recommended to place orders well in advance — selected shipping has no bearing on how long your order will take in the string workshop.
International Customers: To save on shipping fees, check our list of Authorized Worldwide Dealers for a Gamut retailer near you!
Browse the FAQ/Articles section to learn about making gut strings, playing on gut strings, building historical instruments, and more.
Interested in an equal tension setup for your instrument? We offer string tension tables for many instruments.
Have a string-specific question? Need help selecting strings for your instrument? Contact us.
Dan Larson featured on WDSE/WRPT PBS’ Making It Up North (April 2019).
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.