What is the history of cat gut strings?
It was noted sometime in middle part of the 13th century that the first known guitar string was made. At that time, the intestinal tracks of various sheep live stock were used. However, the violin has to take credit for the term “cat gut.” According to Britannica, the term cat gut originated from the Italian word for violin. The word for violin was “kit” in Italy. So, the term “kit gut” was the original reference to the strings. Overtime the term evolved into “cat gut.” Another theory suggests that the term “cat gut” was used in reference to an early string maker in Catagniny Germany. Back in the day, many violinist obtained their strings from the German string maker.
