Dear wwh:

The best musicians use Mongolian stallion hair in their bows. There's a world o' learnin' in the art of the bow. Some bows (most often viola) have what's called "salt and pepper" hair--which is the bleached-out white hair mixed with the black Mongolian stallion hair. My daughter's never used the salt and pepper, however, and I don't know personally any violist who does. Some bows (most likely the basses) have all black hair. I always used to ask for stallion hair for my violin bow, and still do for my daughter's viola hair. Then on and on about the types of rosin to use with the hair. There are books on that, too. You can even have your horsehair dyed these days just about any color of the rainbow, but I've only see that in music magazines and never, ever on stage.

But catgut is sheep gut for the strings some strings players use. Catgut (or gut strings--read "sheep") is purportedly harder to keep in tune, and all the synthetics try to approach the sound of gut--but with more carrying power--more projection. I use Tonicas--a synthetic--which sound sweet under the ear, thank heavens, because I'd hate to have anyone other myself listening to me.

Best regards,
DubDub