Guitar strings have evolved significantly over time. The earliest strings were made from animal intestines and hair, though steel wound strings became popular in the 18th century after developments in piano wire. In the 20th century, electric guitars led to different string materials like hexagonal and round wound strings to suit various sounds. More recently, coatings have been developed to increase string longevity while maintaining tone for as long as possible. The future may bring additional new string innovations.

2. To find the origin of guitar strings, one
must go much further into history than the
invention of the guitar itself. Actually,
instruments that utilized string were used
as early as the 8th century. Of course in
those days you wouldn't be able to run out
and get a replacement set anywhere, so
musicians had to learn to create the parts
they needed on their own.
The earliest materials used were of wildlife
parts and hair. The parts used were actually
intestines, a method and type of string still
used by many acoustic players today. The
pieces would be soak and sterilized, dried
and oiled. This material fell out of favor due
to several flaws, and the innovation of other
materials.

3. The first records of a guitar date to
somewhere in the thirteenth century and
continued to morph over the next several
hundred years. The number of cords used
was constantly changing due to attempts at
achieving better tone, longer durability, and
greater volume. Using developments taken
from piano wire, a six stringed guitar was
created around the turn of the 18th century.
An actual piano cord was used as the base
in which an additional wire would be
wound. This process of overspinning greatly
increased nearly every aspect of the guitar
sound. To this day there has been no greater
breakthrough in string innovation, and the
twentieth century would make the steel
wound design by far the most popular
amongst players.

4. The next great invention came in the form
of electricity and magnetism. The electric
guitar shifted scientists focus to studying
which different types of metals would
respond to the electromagnetic pickups the
best. The literally flipped the world of
guitars on its head. The introduction of
electric equipment presented endless sound
possibilities.
Soon companies were revealing a
hexagonal, flat, round, semi-round, and
double wound designs. Each of these new
winding produced a different sound and
feel, and in some cases increased the
longevity. Different sizes were also
introduced, adding the gauge aspect to your
choices.

5. There was another, less commonly used
material introduced in the mid 1940's.
Nylon had been developed for the United
States military during World War II, and
after the war concluded, its multiple uses
were incorporated into several products of
that time period. Classical musicians seem
to be the primary consumers of these
strings, as they enjoy the durability, texture,
and lack of corrosion issues.
The corroding metals used in strings have
been a long standing threat to the longevity
of a given set. Manufacturers started
experimenting with a number of alloys and
different metal compositions in an attempt
to create a long lasting product. This lead to
several versions of coatings that were
applied to resist the sweat from finger that
cause the corrosion.

6. Although helpful coatings were found for
acoustic players, the electric community
was less than pleased. Initial reviews of
coated strings were nothing short of
insulting, which led to the discontinuation
of most models. The complaints included
sound quality, grip issues, and the coating
rubbing off and making a mess.
The idea of a good coating wasn't dropped
there. many companies went back to the
drawing board and just recently began
reveal their latest creations. According to
developers, these guitar strings will last up
to ten times longer than a non coated set.
They are even claiming that these sound
better than others, and aren't as sleek. I
myself have yet to try them.
What the future holds for guitar strings is
uncertain. There hasn't been any gigantic
leaps in their construction for a few
decades. Let's hope that those research and
development teams are hard at work to
bring us some awesome new creations in
the near future.