Anybody else out there play GUT strings on a guitar?

I use 'em on my Parlor Guitar for Civil-War Reenacting and the like. They are almost as much fun as they are peculiar.

What you need batteries in a gee-tar fo? Is yo gwine t' play music or send a telegraph, Son? Lawdy!

Cain't ye rig it up wif' a STEAM-EN-Jine instead?
Stoke it right up wif' wood or coal, don't matter; run the smoke-stack up the neck so's it'll keep yo hands warm whilst yer playin. Jes keep dat neck right up in de air so's t' keep a good draught goin in 'er, an' it'll run real good! Shucks; git on a bully roll, there, and ye kin go right ahead & blow the whistle!

Gittin' back t' the gut strings; when ye puts the varnish to 'em prior to mounting, leave a couple of inches bare at each end. Then after they dry and ye take 'em down, stick both ends in your mouth while you're taking the old strings off and gettin' ready; they taste a little like undone spaghetti; try not to think about where they come from. They soften up in there in will tie on to the head peg and wind around the tuning roller much better that way. Start with the trebles (you only have 4 gut strings anyway; the 2 bass 5 & 6 are bronze wound silk); since the smaller diameter ones will soften up quicker than the fatter ones, and keep chawing on the others while you rig that on, and so forth till you done.

I have to tie a loop at the head end and take a turn around the end of th' belayin' pin, else if I just tie a knot & stick it in, they are apt to take off out of there like a pistol shot when I crank her up to pitch, and I've launched more than one peg off into oblivion while tuning, or right in the middle of a song. That can be terrible vexing.

"Capo"? Whats a... OH; you mean a "Choker"! I ain't got a proper one, but I seen one, and I reckon I could get a fiddle-peg, chunk of an old leather strap, length of old string and whittle me up one all right. Might just do that; usin' one t' keep the strings gathered up sounds like a capital idea. Thanks!

I've seen some of them fellas what plays real fancy down t' the big Theateter in Portland use chokers, and they can play way up high and pretty like wif 'em. I'll hafta try one!

Ain't you got no steam up yet in dat self-locomotin' wood-fired guee-tar o' yours there, Duckie? Mercy; wind thet damper open, put th' wood to 'er, hang yer hat on th' safety valve and let 'er rip!

HOO-rah and a "Ring-A-Ding-Ding"!