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5 String-ers
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Chinny
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October 4, 2011 - 9:11 am
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As some of you know, I have a 5 string electric violin. It has the C G D A E strings and I was thinking that if I got G D A E B it might be more useful. For starters, I don't even know if violin B strings exist. What do you guys think though?

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HeadCheese
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October 4, 2011 - 9:19 am
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I think you have the best of both worlds, already: A Viola-In! blink

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Chinny
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October 4, 2011 - 9:27 am
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haha you bet I do! wink I was just suggesting this as an idea to throw around since all the pieces I like to attempt usually requires 4th position E string etc and it might be easier to play on a B string in 1st position.

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SaraO
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October 4, 2011 - 10:56 am
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Sounds fun, but I've never heard of a b string. Maybe you should market it.

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HeadCheese
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I wonder if an A string can be successfully tuned to B without over-stressing it. I think it would be an inexpensive enough experiment, Chinny, to give it a try.

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Chinny
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October 4, 2011 - 11:21 am
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Might be easier if I tried to stretch an E string because if I tuned an A string to a B string it'd be one octave too low

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suresh
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October 4, 2011 - 11:28 am
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Chinny said:

haha you bet I do! wink I was just suggesting this as an idea to throw around since all the pieces I like to attempt usually requires 4th position E string etc and it might be easier to play on a B string in 1st position.

4th finger E note in A string sounds better than open E. Initially you will have problem in stretching the pinky.  Try it on any string for 10 minutes.  In a week's time you will be doing it fine.  Have you heard the ringing sounds, for e.g 3rd finger 'A' in "E" string, 3rd finger 'D' in "A" string; similarly 4th finger 'E' in "A" string and 4th finger 'A' in "D" string.  Try 4th finger 'D' in "G".  The result will excite you.

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it ..(William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night)

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Chinny
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No Suresh I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Not 4th finger on the A string to hit the E note. LOL. rofl I meant 4th position E string as in my 1st finger is higher up the neck of the violin, so I have to play the entire song on the E string in multiple positions. The A string is way too low considering I'm talking about higher octaves. Of course I could always transpose the song down an octave but then it'd be less awesome IMO.

 

So assuming I don't have to resort to that and assuming I don't have a B string then I'd have to play some of these songs in multiple positions. The thing is, when you have to change positions a lot of times (especially higher up on the neck) it becomes very easy to lose/forget what position you're in, what position you need to get to, how far you hand has to travel to get to that position and also working out the change in finger spacing. Since I seem to play higher notes more often than lower notes, it's very tempting to use my 5th string for a higher note (ie B if it exists) instead of the current C note (which is also cool still because its like a viola + violin = violain as HC mentioned)

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suresh
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October 4, 2011 - 12:27 pm
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Sorry Chinny! I missed the mention of "4th position".  Now I get you.  Thanks.

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it ..(William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night)

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gStretch

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October 4, 2011 - 6:29 pm
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maybe you could get a fractional size violin A string.  i noticed that my fractional size guitar is an octave higher than my full size. maybe its the same for fractional size violin strings.  but then again it might not be long enough.

-g

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SaraO
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October 4, 2011 - 9:13 pm
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Nah, fractional sized instruments are pitched in the same octave. Nice idea, though.

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Chinny
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October 4, 2011 - 9:43 pm
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Oh that's odd. I'm pretty sure smaller sized violins are still in the same octave though and yea I suspect the strings might be too short.

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HeadCheese
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October 4, 2011 - 10:57 pm
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I wonder if a guitar string could be repurposed to your needs.dunno

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gStretch

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October 4, 2011 - 11:51 pm
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ooooh interesting idea headcheese!  if not a guitar string, try a fractional size viola string. but then again, it might be too small :/

-g

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Fiddlerman
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October 5, 2011 - 7:12 am
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Chinny said:

haha you bet I do! wink I was just suggesting this as an idea to throw around since all the pieces I like to attempt usually requires 4th position E string etc and it might be easier to play on a B string in 1st position.

I guess you would need to reconstruct the violin to endure that much more pressure. Also, the E string is so thin that the high B string could be kind of sharp to the finger tips and the bridge. The bridge could have some real good reinforcement under the string as a solution. All in all though, not a bad idea. I'd be curious to hear this.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Chinny
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October 5, 2011 - 8:56 am
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You know, maybe I should stop using my 6 yr old strings first then reconsider this B string roflOnline shopping takes forever to arrive!

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SaraO
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October 5, 2011 - 9:03 am
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Did you order some new strings? If so, what kind?

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Chinny
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October 5, 2011 - 11:29 am
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I ordered Tonica from No strings attached. postage is like 13 bux. South strings didnt put my order through because of shipping == so I missed the free shipping deal so i canceled that order. and YES i am looking for an easy way out... 1st position is soooo much more comfier imo. (omg im such a lazy bum sleep )

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Joe

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im not even tempted to try one

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