Strings Info 4

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Pirastro

Pirastro's first response to the Thomastik-Infeld Dominant strings was the ricore. This string has a dark, warm sound, but can be dull and rather dead on some instruments. If you have a violin that is harsh and shrill, you might want to consider these strings, which are available only in medium gauge. In con trast to the Aricore, Pirastro's Synoxa is quite brilliant and focused. If your violin has a fuzzy tone, you might try this string (also available in medium gauge only). Until Pirastro introduced Tonica strings, it seemed to be having some trouble competing with Dominants. Tonicas are excellent strings with a fairly bright sound and great complexity, fullness, and depth. Some people may find the strings to have a slightly slower response than other brands. Two E strings are available, one plain steel and one with aluminum wrapping The Pirastro Obligato comes the closest to sounding like a gut-core string, especially Pirastro's own Eudoxa. Obligates are, however, more responsive and slightly more brilliant. If your violin works well with Eudoxas, you might want to try the Obligatos. I would also suggest them for overly bright instruments. The standard set includes a silver wrapped D and a gold plated E.

Evah Pirazzi

have shown themselves to be an outstanding string. It's more brilliant than the Obligato, silvery, powerful, and with a great deal of character. These strings need two or three days to stabilize, as they tend to stretch a great deal when new.

Super Sensitive Musical String Co

When the Super-Sensitive Musical String Co. first introduced its Sensicore strings they had a nice, brilliant tone. They now have a darker, warmer sound. The strings fare better in the lower register, building a deep, warm tone and good volume. But the A and E strings tend to be more shrill.

Thomastik-lnfeld

The Thomastik-lnfeld Dominant, the first synthetic core string, is still a top seller. The sound is brilliant and responsive, and these strings seem to work well with many different instruments. When they are first installed, they have a rather metallic and edgy sound that disappears with a few days of playing. The E strings don't seem to match the quality of the other strings, and many players substitute a Pirastro Gold Label E, which is a good match. The Infeld Red set has a darker, warmer sound, and the Infeld Blue is more brilliant but still warm.

D'Addario 

Helicore is a popular steel filament cored string that offers a smooth, warm tone. It has a soft, pliable feel under the finger.