Violin Strings: Made from Cat Gut?

[Jinx]

Is there any truth to this? Are/were violin strings made from cat gut? And, if so, is it really what it sounds like, or is it some kind of figure of speech, perhaps? What’s the real deal? …And, as a bonus, how are they made today?

[spingears]

@Jinx

Is there any truth to this? Are/were violin strings made from cat gut?
And, as a bonus, how are they made today?

It’s a long story…

“Cat Gut” For Guitar Strings and Other Applications

[susan]

Catgut is the name applied to cord of great toughness and tenacity prepared from the intestines of sheep/goat, or occasionally from those of the hog, horse, mule, and donkey. Those of the cat are not employed, and therefore it is supposed that the word is properly kitgut (“violin string”), kit meaning “fiddle,” and that the present form has arisen through confusion with kit = cat.

The substance is used for the strings of harps, violins, and viols, as well as other stringed musical instruments, for hanging the weights of clocks, for bow-strings, and for suturing wounds in surgery. Catgut was also regularly used for stringing racquets in the past, though its use has diminished now with only one company, Babolat which continues to use it in tennis raquets.

More here.

[GorillaMan]

Interesting Wikipedia link - I’d never heard of any medical connection before now.
And gut strings (referred to as such, rather than ‘catgut’) are still not hard to find, although the market for decent strings is now heavily slanted towards synthetic strings (wound with metal).

[panache45]

This might explain why my cats have always complained whenever I play my violin. I can’t imagine any other reason.

[susan]

I had a cat who used to writhe ecstatically when my friend played violin.