<p>Right now I have all dominant strings… I have to replace them soon, so I’m thinking about experimenting with some new sets, particularly Evah Pirazzi, Obligato, and Wondertone Solo.</p>
<p>Which do you use? Which do you recommend?</p>
<p>I’m into Pirastro and D’Addario. The only thing I recommand is changing your strings at least two weeks before any audition or something. Also, I don’t know which intrument you play, but for the bass we can choose between like “hard”, “very hard”, “medium”, “soft” and on. I wouldn’t choose “very hard” or “soft”. I tried “very hard” once and it gives you a very metallic sound and a lot of blisters.</p>
<p>I play violin, but I’m not auditioning on it. I’m auditioning on voice. (:</p>
<p>I always go for the medium strings. I find it has the best quality sound with my particular violin. Meanwhile my friend’s violin goes best with soft strings.</p>
<p>I was looking into d’Addario, but almost every review I read said the violin strings are extremely bright, and their E string tends to whistle a lot.</p>
<p>On viola, D uses Helicores.</p>
<p>For violin, she uses Dominants and a Pirastro Gold E, which gives a nicer tone than the Dominant one. This, of course, leaves us with extra E strings to give out as party favors.</p>
<p>My “other D,” the nonmusic major, uses Evahs on her viola and likes them a lot. But then, she has expensive taste in general.</p>
<p>And you still have a great sense of humor at this point in the season, stradmom?!! Love it-you gave me my laugh for the evening!</p>
<p>My D uses evahs on her violin with a Pirarstro gold E and visions on her viola with a Jargar A.</p>
<p>My D used Dominant for years and years, until her teacher in Germany switched her to Pirastro. I was surprised when I saw an order she’d sent in for new strings this year - she’d gone back to Dominant. I asked her why, and she said her teacher suggested it. He said the Pirastro were better initially, but the quality decreased rapidly, so they needed to be changed more often. And if you weren’t going to change them often, you may as well stick to Dominant.</p>
<p>If her teacher is happy with the cheaper ones, who am I to question it?</p>
<p>I’m a violinist, and I always use dominants for the a d and g strings, and pirastro gold e and it’s been really reliable. I believe Perlman uses the same combination!</p>
<p>My son uses Pirastro Tonica new formula and has found them to be the best combination of sound and endurance for his particular instrument. With strings, which string you use often is based on the ones that work best with the instrument, string instruments are very individual, or at least those you think work best. He doesn’t like dominants, he says there sound with his instrument is flat and dull…</p>
<p>Evah Pirozzes are great strings, they have a very bright sound, but they also don’t wear well. My son plays 4-5 hours a day, plus orchestra rehearsals, chamber rehearsals, etc, and a set of the Evah’s last him maybe a couple of weeks before falling apart (according to several music stores, those strings are literally hand made by little old ladies, and Pirozze has had real problems with quality control). At the cost of a set of evahs, he can get two of the tonica’s that last a lot longer.</p>
<p>Different instruments sound best with different strings, and the only way to find out is through experimentation, but what an expensive experiment. My daughter has a 2005 instrument that sounds great with Evah Pirazzis-- quite expensive! But she now has use of an 18th century Italian fiddle that sounds awful with EPs and sounds best with…Dominants. Much cheaper. For 3-string, she was advised to use Westminster, but those are squeaky in dry weather, so for now she is using a Universal e. E-strings are only about $3 apiece so they are the easiest to experiment with. During this season she needs to change strings every 3 weeks to a month.</p>
<p>Stradmom - That string combo is exactly what my D grew up on. “THE” violin teacher in our area insists on that combination, so the local music store actually stocks them that way! At least we avoid the extra E strings ;)</p>