Fundamentally even today it is still possible to use plain gut strings for the lowest strings of the gamba, however the stiffness and thickness of the mono-filament of the gut string is a considerable impairment to playability of the deeper notes.

It is only since 1660 that spinning with copper has evolved. However, the most popular winding is silver-plated copper wire, which has the advantage of the silver coating combined with the sound quality of the copper string.