With its roots as a string-making family in the seventeenth century in Italy, D’Addario has a long, long history of involvement with strings. Moving to America in the early twentieth century, John D’Addario Sr. began looking to new synthetic substances, rather than the unreliable animal gut that was traditionally used for classical guitar strings. The advent of nylon brought a new chapter in their production of string making, although it was the shift to a new market of steel-stringed guitars, and the innovative winding techniques that made D’Addario the name it is today. Providing numerous different types of strings for many different instruments, they are now one of the leading manufacturers of strings in the world, whilst remaining a family business.