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Strings
First time with synthetic core strings
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (3 votes) 
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coolpinkone
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July 24, 2015 - 11:03 pm
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Oh @BillyG ... We have to talk.

i  typing on my phone... I can't keep up with my thoughts.   I was talking with violin parter today about this.   So much to say.  Soooo much.

 

Nutshell.... Well when I got my soloist... I loved the sounds... But it was so much harder to get my violin to produce.. There was such a curve... But that was hard for me to take because I played my other friends 1907 Czech violin and it was so easy to get sound... So I thought upgrading would give me a better sound... But it did not immediately... Ask me now ... Oh yes... She sings and rings .. "When I do what I am supposed to do." 

matter of fact... Even tonight I had to test out the theory with violins... Even tested 59 dollar pink violin.... Omg... Now I did not test the EV...   I love the EV. But I was keeping it out of the equation.. Much to learn and new strings needed for Miss Rosie.

 

Anyway... I am looking to upgrade my violin.. Just a bit... Not so much in hopes that I will sound better... But I am at a cusp of having to advance and learn some technique and I am hoping as I transition with a lot of hard work and practice that the upgrade will help me and I will enjoy it... As I am not 25 any more.. ;) I know with some of the new shifting things.. And vibrato and skills I have to push to acquire.... Well I just thought it would be nice to settle into a bit better violin.....

So much more to talk about here.. I do look forward to hearing your Larsen strings...yay...  I mean I really wanted to use what Hilary Uses.. But damn.. It was a mixed bag of tricks and I don't have a late 1800 violin... Or a spit molecules worth of her takent.. Or the cash to mix up strings like That.

So glad we are talking about this... Basically I spent the money on new strings so I can compare them on my violin and and upgrade.... Shhhhhh I am not talking about this yet.. Lol...

And at the end of the day .. It's what sounds good to us..right and the joy we get from

making music...... I just got off a classical site and the thread unread was pretty much how "Hilary Hahns playing "leaves them cold.." ".  So ya know.... It's all about personal flavor and what sounds good to us.

I love talking about all this... Catch up soon.  Cheers!

Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato

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July 25, 2015 - 2:37 pm

@dionysia 

I'm dead sure we "stringaholics" or whatever are worse than wine endorsers.  But the aspect of trying and trying and trying could be the worse thing. And as with wine, if you try a lot, you get drunk and lost. And then you return to where you started. 

 

At least this happens to me, and the green evahs. I so much want to change them with something cheaper -just for financial purposes- that both me and my violin like more, but all the time I (we) end up throwing money away and strings in a dark locket. 

Or you combine strings and wine like what @Barry said afro and it's aaaall good.
@coolpinkone, as far as I know, Ms Hahn uses dominants with a gold label E. (sorry it's the stringaholic in me ) so it's not an expensive option, it's pretty close to the zyex or the larsen I guess. And the positive thing is that I hear many people say that the larsens lack the initial tennis ball effect or metallic harshness of the dominants 

Upgrade you said? (and we could all be possible upgradeholics hoho) Tell us what you think...And this is the one side of myself. The other side keeps telling me that the Soloist itself could be a great instrument that could upgraded by a set up once a while like all fine instruments

P.S. @BillyG "What a fantastic journey of discovery....  I just love every moment of it, even the "WTF is happening NOW" moments... LOL   All good..." I so much liked this smile

P.S no2 Back to the string stuff etc. Today, Vision Titanium Solo, busted yell. I am know convinced that trying to find something cheaper and quite as enjoyable to me and mr violin as the evahs gets more expensive in the end,  with this vast majority of options we've got. This whole thing gets annoying, and I am seriously thinking the option of going gut with no turning back. lol

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cdennyb
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July 26, 2015 - 2:50 pm
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Everybody seems to be interested in the string combos of artists (including me of course!), so I did some research to try and find out what they used including newer and older artists. Enjoy and if anyone knows of anything different than what I have posted, please let me know.

Jascha Heifetz : Goldbrokat Medium E, Plain Gut A&D, Wound G (don’t know the brand). That he used until the end of his performing career judging by the album photos from the 1960’s that I saw.

Nathan Milstein : Same as Heifetz in the 1950’s with a Eudoxa G, but he moved to using an Eudoxa G&D, plain gut A and Goldbrokat E in the 1960’s. I have been told by someone who saw him in the 1970’s that by then he was using an Eudoxa A as well.

Zino Francescatti : From an album from the late 50’s or early 60’s that I saw, he was using a Eudoxa G, Kaplan Silver D, Eudoxa A and Goldbrokat Medium E.
David Oistrakh : Eudoxa D and G, Prim Steel A (or Chromecore) and a Prim E.
* On a historical note here, the first person to use and recommend the use of a steel A with two wound gut core lower strings was Carl Flesch.

Arthur Grumiaux : Used an Eudoxa A, D, G. Couldn’t figure out the E. In the 1970’s, I saw a cover where he used the Eudoxa steel A, and gut on the two lower strings.
Henryk Szeryng : Used a Eudoxa D and G, a Kaplan A and either a Gold Label E or Kaplan E (they look so alike!). He did also use Olives for the D and G, and on the last filmed broadcast he did for Radio-Canada, he used Olive D and G, plain gut A and a Gold Label E from what I could tell.

Isaac Stern : Used the Eudoxa A, D, G and a Goldbrokat Medium E. Later in his career he kept the E but switched to Dominants.

Frank Peter Zimmerman : Uses Olives for the A, D, G and a Hill E.

Thomas Zehetmair : Unless he has changed, he use to use a full set of Olives.

Pinchas Zukerman : Used Eudoxas until the Dominants came out which he still uses (including the E, I think...). He was the first soloist to switch to Dominants.
Itzhak Perlman : Used Eudoxa in his early career than switched to the traditional combo of Dominants with the Gold Label E.

Hilary Hahn : Dominants with a Gold Label E.

Maxim Vengerov : Used to use Dominants but recently switched to a full set of Pirazzi.

Vadim Repin : Don’t know what he used before but he is currently playing on a full set of Pirazzi.

Ilya Gringolts : He uses Evah Pirazzi at the moment.

Gil Shaham : Uses Dominants and a Jargar E (don’t know which gauge).

Midori : Uses Dominants and had a Synoxa E for a while, but it could also be Jargar Forte E which looks similar.

Stefan Jackiw : Uses Dominants and a Jargar Forte E.

Ricci: Now using Vision strings (thanks for Buri for letting me know - he saw it in Strad magazine). In the past he has played Dominants, and before that, Eudoxa.
Anne-Sophie Mutter: Dominants with some kind of E... looks like a Gold Label or Golden Spiral.

Joshua Bell: Now listed by Pirastro as a Pirazzi user.

Julian Rachlin: Said on this site that he uses Tonica D&G with a Jargar A and a Kaplan Golden Spiral E.

Cho-Liang Lin: Started his career on Eudoxa, but quickly switched to Dominants (including the E as I saw on an old CBS LP cover), and is now using Infelds which he finds more reliable (according to his statements in Strings magazine).

Aaron Rosand: Listed on the Pirastro site as now using Tonica Weich (Silver D) since the late 90's. Strange though as he swore by the traditional Eudoxa G&D and the pure gut A with some E until then. Even forced his own students to use that string setup.

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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July 27, 2015 - 9:18 am
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I have came across some interviews etc of mr Rosand where he seems to be in favour of light gauge synthetics now in general and that he encourages people to try the least tension possible. And I have also seen photos of him and students of him performing in Dominants, light. These yellow silkings on the pegs caught my eye.

in an interview found on thestrad.com he mentions using a 13¾-gauge Damian Dlugoleck A string (gut) along with low tension synthetics like those mentioned above, which he found more stable than wound gut like Eudoxa during touring in Asia. 

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Fiddlerman
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July 28, 2015 - 9:55 am
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Thanks Dennis. This gave me a great idea. Are you cool with me using your research. I know I've seen similar articles elsewhere but I like the way you laid it out. :)

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

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cdennyb
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July 29, 2015 - 1:58 am
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go for it Pierre.

thumbs-up

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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Fiddlerman
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July 29, 2015 - 1:05 pm
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Thanks. I'll fill you in if I do it.

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

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Schaick
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August 5, 2015 - 4:15 pm
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@Jim Dunleavy I put Dominant strings set with a Gold Label for the E on Berty.  They lasted 2 years!! I only changed them out because the A was starting to unravel.  I put on the new strings in April.

Just yesterday I discovered that over night the G string broke!!  I immediately called the music store I bought the strings from  - not our FiddlerMan shop.  They could have cared less.  The butteads!!  They have lost me as a customer for sure. I started with them back when my Suzuki Teach sent me to them.

I emailed the company and have already received a response, a promise for a new string and a request that if I had saved the string could they have it to send it to their lab to see what is wrong with it.

Violinist start date -  May 2013  

Fiddler start date - May 2014

FIDDLE- Gift from a dear friend. A 1930-40 german copy, of a french copy of a Stradivarius.  BOW - $50 carbon fiber. Strings - Dominants with E Pirastro Gold string.

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Jim Dunleavy
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August 6, 2015 - 3:07 am
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@Schaick I'm pleased to see the manufacturer is interested in their customers at least!

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August 6, 2015 - 1:21 pm
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On Jane are Operas. On Rose are Preludes.  On Vanessa are ProArtes. On Maggie are Dominants. I swap e strings using Jargar, Kaplan, Warchal Amber, or gold label. All are easy to play except Vanessa.  After 30 minutes of practice on Vanessa my finger tips are sore.  Anyone else have that problem with proartes?

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August 8, 2015 - 10:12 am
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 Anyone else have that problem with proartes?

Yup @mryikes 

About a year ago I had strung a new cheap (but loud) chinese violin I used as a spare with pro artes to tone it down a bit. Playing double stops was not really like fun, because they were at the same moment tense, not the most polished ones in terms of feel and a little quiet on this instrument (did not test them on others) so I without realising had to press hard in both hands making the whole situation uncomfortable. 

The situation on this particular violin radically improved when I swapped them for one of the following (from mellower to brightest) 1. Pirastro Violino, 2. Dominants with Gold Label E, Vision Titanium Orchestras with a Gold Label or Eudoxa plain steel E

One of these could also do the trick for both you and Vanessa. They are all affordable. She may be in favour of lower tension :)

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Leana
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August 23, 2015 - 9:18 pm
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I have been playing for almost 2 months.  Yes- it's called practicing.  I am about to receive a bunch of strings through the underground mail system in place here. They are EXACTLY the same strings I am using now.

My actual question is--- Today during practice, I noticed notes weren't sounding clear so much.  could be user issues-  BUT !  are there early warning signs of when to actually change strings ??

Like I said, I got a whole bunch, so will be changing them anyways, but……...

:)))

(I still can't believe I'm getting all the math questions right)

I swear- someday I will be playing as well as my imagination 

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Fiddlerman
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August 23, 2015 - 9:46 pm
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Sorry Leana, math until you pass 99 posts. :(

Dead or not as vibrant sound is a great indication. :)
What kind of strings are you using?

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

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Leana
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August 23, 2015 - 9:56 pm
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Fiddlerman said
Sorry Leana, math until you pass 99 posts. :(
Dead or not as vibrant sound is a great indication. :)
What kind of strings are you using?

I'm still kinda new, so dead string sound, huh ?  LOL

I know I have a lot of math to go-- I am using the same strings that came with the violin- ALICE !

they appear all steel, but I could never know for sure…………….

:)

I swear- someday I will be playing as well as my imagination 

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Fiddlerman
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August 23, 2015 - 10:01 pm
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Where are you located. The underground reference made me curious. LOL

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

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Leana
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August 23, 2015 - 10:04 pm
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Fiddlerman said
Where are you located. The underground reference made me curious. LOL

LOL- Belize- it's not as backwards as I make it sound- but almost  LOL

 

is your cruise coming here ?  we are a part of the Carribean now-- but I noticed the price !!  (would LOVE TO GO !!!!)

I swear- someday I will be playing as well as my imagination 

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Fiddlerman
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August 23, 2015 - 10:13 pm
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We would LOVE to have you on the trip :)
I've had some visitors to Fiddlershop from Belize. There is one girl that has been here a few times that performs the violin in a popular Belize band. I can't remember now but I'll bring it up again when I do. :)

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

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Leana
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August 23, 2015 - 10:17 pm
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WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder……and I can't wait to see her !!!!!!!!

 

I am saving all my money for one of your violins (its like this:)

violin…cruse violin… cruse (or spelling lessons)

I swear- someday I will be playing as well as my imagination 

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Fiddlerman
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August 23, 2015 - 10:25 pm
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LOL, maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. :)
You have almost 8 months. :)

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

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Leana
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August 23, 2015 - 10:28 pm
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LOL !!  TRUE !!!!!!!!

(and I heard that musical instruments are duty free)

:)

I swear- someday I will be playing as well as my imagination 

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