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Electric D'Addario

A string is the vibrating element which is the source of vibration in string instruments, such as the, guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. They are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may freely vibrate. more...

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Strings may be "plain" (consisting only of a single material, like steel or nylon), or they may have a core of one material with an overwinding of other materials to increase their mass and thickness. Such strings are called "wound strings".

String construction

Depending on the construction of the instrument they are used on, strings will usually have either a ball or loop at one end to attach the string to the instrument. Strings for some instruments may be wrapped with silk at their ends to protect the string. The color and pattern of the silk can be used to identify the string.

The tone of a string depends on its weight, and, therefore, on its diameter or so-called gauge. Traditionally, diameter is measured in thousandths of an inch, although, metric units are also used. The larger the diameter, the heavier the string is. Heavier strings require more tension for the same pitch and are consequently harder to press down to the fretboard. Heavier strings will also produce a louder and thicker tone. (If a fretted instrument is restrung with different string gauges, it may be necessary to adjust the height of the string above the frets, called the "action", in order to make the instrument easier to play or to avoid the strings buzzing against the frets.)

Steel strings for 6-string guitar usually come in the sets of matched strings. Sets are usually referenced either by the gauge of the first string (e.g., 9), or by pair of first and last (e.g., 9-42). Gauges are given either in inches or millimeters. Some manufacturers may have slightly different gauge sequences; the sample data below comes from D'Addario string charts for regular, round-wound, nickel-plated strings.

Typical bass guitar strings come in the following gauges. Note that additional strings (5th and 6th) are usually sold separately. Bass guitar strings are sometimes made for a particular scale length and come in short, medium and long scale.

Core materials

Metals such as steel or bronze are the most common string materials, although natural products such as silk or gut, or synthetics such as nylon and kevlar are also often used. (Steel used for strings, called music wire, is hardened and tempered.) Some violin E strings are gold plated in order to improve the tone quality.

One of the most popular materials for the core of violin strings is stranded nylon sold under the trade name of "Perlon".

Winding materials

Aluminum is the most common for bowed instruments like violin and viola, while guitar and piano strings are usually wound with bronze; copper, chrome and silver are also used. Although silver is more expensive, it is preferred for its resistance to corrosion and hypoallergenicity.