Violin Strings - all you need to know about foreign brands

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SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Violin Strings - all you need to know about foreign brands

Post by SrinathK »

Violin String Review - This site is one of the best resources for all things related to violin strings. If you are planning to upgrade from the standard Karuna strings (which btw are good, allow for a fairly wide range of tunings and can't be beaten on price), you can check this out :

http://www.violinstringreview.com/ -- Especially useful for violin students outside India

One of the things that is particularly useful is the reference chart indicating qualitatively the tonal character of the string and where reviewer's feel a particular brand of string fits in.

There's even a tension guide showing how many pounds (lbf) of tension are carried by most (but not all the listed) string brands.

I have myself tried the Pirastro Piranito set (and that's considered a student - intermediate level string) and I've never had it easier on my fingers -- I could keep the tuning down at E3-B3-E4-B4 and it was still quite sweet.

Concert violinists in WCM often pair up different types and brands of strings and gauges to get the particular balance of sound that they are seeking. So you may have a separate G string of one brand, maybe a combo for the A-D and a totally different brand for the E (usually metal).

A small word of warning though -- many of these brands can cause sticker shock. :shock: :o

Under no circumstances tune a set of gut or synthetic strings to a higher pitch, if you do, they will stretch and become unplayable if you tune them back down. Metal fares better here (the Karuna solo set was one string that I could tune down to a C and it still sounded very decent with the right setup). It is also recommended not to switch a string till it fully wears out for the same reason.

A more affordable, but highly rated string brand is available at fiddlershop : https://fiddlershop.com/fiddlerman-viol ... t-4-4.html

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