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From Andrew:
I ordered some of those Pirastros yesterday. I'll let you know.
I'm all ears, Andrew. Love to hear how you compare it to what you have now.
My new Warchal Amber E is breaking in but still rather bright compared to the G-D-A Violinos. 3rd finger (A) on the E-string sounds sweet bet very muted. I have a lesson this afternoon and will see what my teacher has to say.
From BillyG:
I've never experienced a string unwinding / or the winding being "pinched" at the nut or bridge (where the windings usually fail) but that's probably down to good nut and bridge grooves (parchment in the bridge E-groove)
I did experience this problem recently. The winding of my A-string at the nut was slightly overstretched... probably because I forgot to rub the groove with a pencil when I mounted a new set of strings. Once again, lesson learned. Fiddlershop checked the groove at the nut for good measure and replaced the A-string of their own volition. Thanks Pierre 
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bocaholly said
From Andrew:
I ordered some of those Pirastros yesterday. I'll let you know.I'm all ears, Andrew. Love to hear how you compare it to what you have now.
Lol, what I have now is the original solid steel E and A strings that came on my 50$ violin, so I'm expecting quite a lot of difference!
Andrew
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bocaholly said ....
I'm all ears....
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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LO-Ling while reading a forum reply. Think it's time for a couch for me too
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Well, I've hit a problem. The Pirastro strings arrived, but with a warning that they may not be suitable for fine tuners, except on the E string, whereas my tailpiece has four fine tuners. So I must decide whether to ignore the warning, or have a new tail-piece fitted (to a $50 fiddle, really?) or buy a more expensive violin a year or two before I was intending to. Or I just keep them safe and wait until I've got a better fiddle.
Are fine tuners really that bad for wound strings, or is the vendor being over-cautious?
Andrew
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Hello Andrew (and others). Obviously, many student fine tuners can be removed from the tail piece, and the lower ones could be removed in compliance with the manufacturer’s recommendation. Some fine tuners (Wittner et al), are integral with the tail piece. In that case, I would give it a go, but remember that I am equal to a walker on a sidewalk directing a painter that a house should be a different color than what the owner selected (I lack equity in the matter).
Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. —Earl Nightingale.
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Hi @Gordon Shumway, @Irv et.al.
I just gave Alex at Fiddlershop a call to get his take on your Pirastro concern with your tailpiece with integrated fine tuners.
He looked at the Pirastro documentation and didn't see anything against using Tonicas with 4 fine tuners. If you had ordered Pirastros with knot ends (like their gut or metal wound gut strings) that would have been another story.
Is it possible that the warning in your package was to cover some but not all of their models and not the Tonicas specifically?
Just a thought.
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P.S., don't forget to pencil the nut and bridge grooves like I did last time I changed strings. Lesson learned over here :-}
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bocaholly said
Hi @Gordon Shumway, @Irv et.al.I just gave Alex at Fiddlershop a call to get his take on your Pirastro concern with your tailpiece with integrated fine tuners.
He looked at the Pirastro documentation and didn't see anything against using Tonicas with 4 fine tuners. If you had ordered Pirastros with knot ends (like their gut or metal wound gut strings) that would have been another story.
Is it possible that the warning in your package was to cover some but not all of their models and not the Tonicas specifically?
Just a thought.
They are generic instructions, and it says "the slots are too narrow" so I'll be careful to check that I don't have to squeeze the strings in, and if that seems OK, I'll pluck up the courage and go for it. Thanks, Boca and Alex!
Andrew
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Andrew Fryer said
They are generic instructions, and it says "the slots are too narrow" so I'll be careful to check that I don't have to squeeze the strings in, and if that seems OK, I'll pluck up the courage and go for it. Thanks, Boca and Alex!
And I've got some diamond files; so if a slot is too narrow, I'll widen it - that's the good thing about buying $50 fiddles - you can experiment and learn things cheaply.
Andrew
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I agree with everything that was said above. The slots might be a bit narrow but if it doesn't get forced into the slot you should be fine. Also, fine tuners are most necessary for solid steel strings and to avoid using pegs. However, a string with a lot of flexibility will stretch so much when you turn it that the fine tuners will eventually not suffice. One must learn to use pegs eventually.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thanks, Fiddlerman - I saw your video that said start off by totally loosening the fine tuners before stringing the fiddle. Whenever I tune it I use the pegs to the best of my ability, then I use the fine tuners if necessary.
The slots didn't need widening, but I did mess up the E string a little, ironically - by the time I'd got it tightened up to D, I noticed that the ball end had inadvertently slipped out of the slot and was jammed between the fine tuner and the tailpiece, which was annoying. After a few minutes of examining and testing, I resorted to brute force to pull the thing out, and it doesn't seem to have suffered.
(I see the website I posted no longer has any Pirastros with wound E strings. That's odd)
Andrew
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I'm glad you worked it out, Andrew.
We can get you wound E strings. Just keep in mind that the sound is not as brilliant. It becomes kind of dampened.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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