One thing I've noticed about gut - I play it on both parlor guitar and Minstrel banjo in conjunction with "Living History" Civil War Reenactment and educational programs - It seems to require less tension to bring it up to pitch than steel, resulting in less stress on the instruments' structure. Another important consideration is the old friction pegs; ever try to hold steel in pitch with 'em? My research concurrs with a previous post in that steel was used on guitars during the 1850s, just not real commonly. Banjos, by the way, were routinely tuned about 2 1/2 steps lower than they are today (about Ab), making them reasonably tunable with the pegs and helping the fragile and sometimes crudely made instruments keep from imploding! They had a distinctive "plunkey" sound with a "bullfrog" low bass string, and standard chording goes right well with the old Stephen Foster songs in accompaniment to the male voice - fancy that!

Gut is a little harder than nylon but softer than steel, and has a unique earthy mellowness that I have become rather fond of. They are expensive, and rather fragile; do NOT use picks of any sort on gut strings (you won't for long!) and dipping them in varnish or shellac and hanging up to dry before installation will prolong their life. I'd reccomend anyone out there with an antique instrument appropriate to gut strings to at least try them.