gut strings, to oil or not to oil, that is the question.

[Spikey1973]

I am fairly new to violin playing, bu it have set up my violin with gutstrings because i really like the sound of it. Because of budget and inexperience I have chosen for the budget Romana gust strings (Is gut wound with silver (plated silver??)) D and A are gut and I replaced the E with a Pirastro Chorda gut E instead of the steel E with the Romana set.

Anyway, i have looked into gut string maintenance and there seem to be a LOT of difference in opinion on what to do.

I have read from people that consider themselves as professional musicians that presoak in olive oil,which is something I wouldn't choose myself to do, but hey I can be wrong there.

I also read about pre-soaking or after care in / with different oils, mostly nuts oils like wall-nut and I believe sesam-oil (corrected was sweet almond-oil) and coconut butter.

But I read so much information and contradictory information that I kinda feel I lost all credit in any information that I read.

So my question now here is, is there any standard in care that people can agree upon. Not using very expensive brand based products that have nothing more then a expensive label?

Kind greats

Matthieu

 

[Altgeiger]

When I've used them, I care for them by putting them on my instrument, wiping them after each session, and playing them until they don't sound good.

[deans]

I dont oil. At one point I tried olive oil, only because I read it somewhere. Dont think it was useful.  But try for yourself, When you get into gut you'll end up doing a lot of tinkering.

[Cerulean5346]

Never soak metal wound gut strings in oil.

I once tried soaking plain gut A and D strings in olive oil for two weeks before installing them after reading about it somewhere on the internet.  It resulted in a sticky mess.  I hung the strings up to dry for a month after soaking them and wiped them repeatedly, but they never seemed to dry completely.  When I put them on the instrument, they were a nightmare to bow.  I will never do that again!

Sweet almond oil can be useful for cleaning the plain gut strings.  I don’t use it on the metal strings.  Put a drop on a cloth and wipe the strings along their entire length.  This seems to remove rosin more easily than simply wiping them with a dry cloth, because afterwards the rosin stickiness is completely gone.  It also seems to remove finger oil and grunge.  I do this once every few weeks after I have finished playing for the day.  I wouldn’t try soaking the entire string in almond oil, though.

[David Burgess]

Oil and bow hair are not known to be highly compatible.

[Stephen Fine]

I'm a little confused... maybe it's a plucked string thing?

 

But, yeah, as everyone else says, don't.  I've played on gut strings for years and years and never had the thought, gee, I wish this string was oily.

[Ganymede Piggot]

‎ 

[Victor Roman]

Paraffin oil, then rubbed dry and let rest for a couple of days.

[Victor Roman]

10 hours ago, Spikey1973 said:

mostly nuts oils like wall-nut

Those were rubbed over the violin. The idea was that it improved the tone. Which it did.

[deans]

37 minutes ago, Ganymede Piggot said:

If you mean wound gut, no. If you mean bare gut, some people oil them and it's sometimes part of manufacturing.  I haven't heard of any player soaking them though, just the smallest trace of olive oil applied only up to about the octave and then wiped dry. 

 

I haven't done that but when I use bare gut strings my problem with them is sticky and less accurate shifts, no matter how I try to compensate.  So I might try it sooner or later

Yes, just a tiny bit where most of the fingering is done, not where you bow.

[Spikey1973]

To start this reply, I only started this topic to try to understand and get knowledge from people with a little more witt then commenly found in placed like reddit and such. I am not sitting here with a tubb of olive oil to wait for the go sign.  

@Altgeigeryeah that is my current approach

@deans, Yeah I read about olive oil too, but olive oil doens't dry completely, and can get rancy sometimes, so i am not going to try this. Maybe the Sweet almond or coco butter, after getting more info on it. And yeah location (fingering board part) seems usufull too. 

@Cerulean5346 Of course ONLY on the plain gut strings. I wouldn't dream of it putting anything on a wounded string. 
Also, the thing I read about the soaking talked about 24 hours, not 2 weeks. that in itself seems excessive to me. 

@David Burgess Yeah that was my thought too, on the other hand, if it draws into the gut itself nd dries completely, this wouldn't be an issue. but i do feel it really contredicts itself as if it was that stupid, why are somany people trying / doing it and why would manufactures make there own highly priced batches to sell.  

@Stephen Fine there is no intend to create an oily string, the idea is to maintain the string, like rubbing lotion on that dries fully, not leaving any oily residue on the surface. 

@Ganymede Piggot yeah, that is also one of the benefits I read about, but that is for me way beyond my playing skill level.. I am at the 5 year old toddler level after one week of practice

[Stephen Fine]

The only time I've ever heard string oil mentioned was by someone who was mostly familiar with Indian classical violin where the oil is used to aid in sliding if I recall correctly.

I just read a few posts on gut string oiling elsewhere and I'm not convinced.  The people are not getting good results after the oil and I feel like it's probably the oil that is contributing to their bad results?  But maybe we should reach out to a gut string manufacturer and see if they'll give us their thoughts.

[deans]

Gamut has a bit on this. They have taken a "neutral" position. It seems they dont really think it does anything but recommend almond oil for those who insist.

[Cerulean5346]

The technique of soaking strings in olive oil for an extended period of time was not something that I came up with on my own.  This is one of the sites I visited: https://www.danielagaidano.com/string-tips-5-oil-soaking/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v2CstrOtTU

Ms. Gaidano says to soak them for a minimum of one month, so that is what I must have done.  (This was a couple of years ago, so I might be misremembering the details.)  I even followed her advice of putting little bits of lead in the jar to prevent the olive oil from going rancid.  As I said, my results were not positive, and I would not endorse doing this.  

As @deans said, Gamut Strings has written on the topic: https://www.gamutmusic.com/string-oil. Their remarks about olive oil making the strings gummy are consistent with my experience.

String King sells almond oil specifically for bowed string instrument use, but I have not tried it: https://shop.stringking.net/10486.html

As others have mentioned, you do not want to get any type of oil on the bow hair.  You should even avoid touching the bow hair with your fingers.  Almond oil doesn’t seem to cause a problem, though, especially if you wipe the oil off the strings completely when you are done and let them sit overnight before playing them again.

[baroquecello]

Oiling strings can help with longevity, but the difference depends on the acidity of your sweat. If you wear down strings rapidly,  it may help lengthen their lifespan. You can use any vegetable oil. Soak for a night, wipe thoroughly before and after putting the strings on your instrument. This treatment is only for bare gut and round wire wound gut, not for flat wound gut. If you live in an excessively dry climate,  it can help reduce or even prevent buzzing of round wire wound gut strings. I don't do this anymore because it makes no big difference for me. My sweat isn't very acidic and I live in a relatively moderate climate. 

[JacksonMaberry]

On 6/8/2025 at 1:18 PM, Victor Roman said:

Those were rubbed over the violin. The idea was that it improved the tone. Which it did.

If you have time, can you please help me understand the function by which rubbing an instrument with nut oils "improves the tone"? 

[HoGo]

Some makers use walnut oil in their varnish I guess...

Otherwise just plainly rubbing pretty much any oil (drying or not) on instrument is a crime, IMO. If it gets into any varnish cracks or bare spots it wicks into wood and creates ugly stains that are impossible to remove and if it gets into wood cracks or open seams it's downright catastrophe. Please don't do it! NEVER!

[Victor Roman]

19 hours ago, JacksonMaberry said:

If you have time, can you please help me understand the function by which rubbing an instrument with nut oils "improves the tone"? 

Mr. Maberry, I have no idea why it works. Maybe some of the scientifically inclined members here will have some explanation.  

[Victor Roman]

7 hours ago, HoGo said:

Some makers use walnut oil in their varnish I guess...

Otherwise just plainly rubbing pretty much any oil (drying or not) on instrument is a crime, IMO. If it gets into any varnish cracks or bare spots it wicks into wood and creates ugly stains that are impossible to remove and if it gets into wood cracks or open seams it's downright catastrophe. Please don't do it! NEVER!

Good advice, I would guess. I remember there was some Hill polish or cleaner which also contained some oil.

[HoGo]

Most (or all) of the instrument polishes are not recommended on any older instruments or ones with finish wear or damage. On brand new instrument with continuous layer of finish you can use such polish if you rub it back with nothing left on surface.

I always advice to use just moist fine cloth and gentle rubbing. Anything more is work for someone who knows exactly what he is doing.

I don't see how application of oil could make instrument sound better. Perhaps genuine snake oil?

[JacksonMaberry]

Snake oil, I think. Oh well. 

 

Ok back to oiling strings. I cannot remember where I read this, and I apologize for the lack of citation, but if I'm remembering correctly the soaking of strings in oil was practiced by some players especially of plucked strings (chittarone, tiorba, lute, etc). The type of oil depended to an extent on what was prevalent in the region where the musician worked. Drying oils would likely have a more beneficial effect, essentially "varnishing" the strings - note that some contemporary suppliers of gut strings offer  varnished and unvarnished varieties, Gamut being one such supplier. From their website:

https://www.gamutmusic.com/varnished-strings

I generally make historical instruments strung in gut, and I do not purchase varnished strings nor do I soak it varnish them myself. I have not been asked to do so to this point. 

 

[baroquecello]

There is also the factor of how the strings were produced. In the 20th century,  a round diametre was obtained by using a machine that sort of sanded down the string regardless of the structure of it, thereby opening pores. The result was a very round string that would lose its shape rather quickly, as moisture easily got absorbed. Oil would likely get as easily tucked into the pores of the material,  protecting is against moisture.  Nowadays,  most string makers use a non-centred machine that emulates the hand polishing pre industrial process. This leads to somewhat rougher, less standardised strings,  but also the pores of the material are much less likely to be opened. Thus the string is much more resilient to moisture. Oil is not so much needed on such strings.

[deans]

I believe Gamut offered a "varnished" vs unvarnished option at one point. I do not know the process or purpose, and I dont know if they still offer a choice. 

[LCF]

On 6/11/2025 at 1:32 AM, Victor Roman said:

Good advice, I would guess. I remember there was some Hill polish or cleaner which also contained some oil.

https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/356388-glue-for-oil-soaked-repair/

[Victor Roman]

2 hours ago, LCF said:

https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/356388-glue-for-oil-soaked-repair/

TY but I found no reference to the Hill polish. Is it there ?