How good are Kevlar Tailguts & Tailpiece Hanger?
The extremely durable Kevlar (aramid) tailguts (also known as a tailpiece hanger) have many advantages over alternative tailguts which can be found made from Dyneema/Spectra (high-modulus polyethylene), Nylon (polyamide), titanium or metal.
Metals such as titanium have long been used in violin making as tailguts, however, recent innovations in materials science, have produced a number of high-performance synthetic alternatives.
Kevlar, developed by DuPont in 1965, is a para-aramid fibre which has liquid-crystalline behaviour, and mechanical drawing of the fibre orients the polymer chains in the fibre direction. Dyneema (commercialised as Spectra in the US) has been available since the late 1970’s, and is a high modulus polyethylene which is modified on a molecular basis and additionally stretched in one direction.
Kevlar and Dyneema are very often wrongly confused (with Dyneema tailguts assumed to be Kevlar) and while they do have a few similarities, Kevlar has a number of preferred properties which are specifically beneficial for the use as a tailgut.