Chaotic strings are coupled Tchebyscheff maps on a ring-network. With a well-specified empirical prescription they are able to explain the coupling constants of the standard model of elementary particle physics. This empirical relationship is tested further by introducing a tunable disorder to chaotic strings. Inhomogeneous coupling weights as well as small-world perturbations of the ring-network structure are discussed. It is found that certain combinations of coupling and network disorder preserve the empirical relationship between chaotic strings and the weak and strong sector of the standard model of elementary particle physics. For the electromagnetic sector it is found that already a small disorder pushes the associated energy scale of the running coupling constant far away from the result without disorder.