violin strings question ?

[Folkmusician.com]

I agree with Jim, Dominant strings are the standard Perlon string. They are very warm and you don't get any better until you start jumping up in price.

To keep the costs down, D'Addario Pro Arte are not bad, and Helicore are great fiddle strings if you still want a bit of the steel characteristics.

[kkmm]

While adding a pickup for my violin, I just tune it down to D A E B (low). Amazingly it sounds very warm and sweet.
As I am still practicing, I will leave it this way. Nothing encourages practice better than sweet sound coming from what one plays.
Non standard tuning does not bother me at all as I can play any tune I know in almost any key (same as mandolin).

[DougC]

While adding a pickup for my violin, I just tune it down to D A E B (low). Amazingly it sounds very warm and sweet.
As I am still practicing, I will leave it this way. Nothing encourages practice better than sweet sound coming from what one plays.
Non standard tuning does not bother me at all as I can play any tune I know in almost any key (same as mandolin).

This works fine, but you don't have to tune it so low. The G string gets a little 'flabby' at that tension. And as long as you don't play with anyone else, you're in a happy place.

[kjbllc]

just a thought , the violin plays a big part in you sound of course, somtimes moving the sound post , or setting up the bridge, can have quite an effect, at some point a luthier might be a good thing just to check things out.

[kkmm]

the violin plays a big part in you sound of course, somtimes moving the sound post , or setting up the bridge, can have quite an effect, at some point a luthier might be a good thing just to check things out.

I have tried to move the sound post forward / backward: no change and alter the bridge (carve it to lower the strings), again no change. Only by changing to Dominant strings, then the sound improved greatly. Then by tuning it low, it sounds very sweet. My guess it has to do with the friction of the bow hairs and the strings. High tension of the bow hair makes it sound bad, high string tension also make it sound bad. When reducing both of these tensions, it sounds great.
After all, I paid only 50$ brand new, lucky eBay bidding, other bids range from 120 to 180. (+20$ shipping + 40$ for new Dominant strings) for this VSO thing. I am happy with it right now. I did some simple setup myself and it stays tune really well. I am in the process of adding an active pickup to it. A dry test run shows it sounds really good, especially with some FX added.
When I upgrade to a more expensive violin (not VSO) in the future, I will certainly take it to a luthier to set it up for me as I don't know about violin sound post and bridge setup.

[lowtone2]

Evah Pirazzi are the perfect compromise string for my bass violin.

[Jim Garber]

I have tried to move the sound post forward / backward: no change and alter the bridge (carve it to lower the strings), again no change. Only by changing to Dominant strings, then the sound improved greatly. Then by tuning it low, it sounds very sweet. My guess it has to do with the friction of the bow hairs and the strings. High tension of the bow hair makes it sound bad, high string tension also make it sound bad. When reducing both of these tensions, it sounds great.
After all, I paid only 50$ brand new, lucky eBay bidding, other bids range from 120 to 180. (+20$ shipping + 40$ for new Dominant strings) for this VSO thing. I am happy with it right now. I did some simple setup myself and it stays tune really well. I am in the process of adding an active pickup to it. A dry test run shows it sounds really good, especially with some FX added.
When I upgrade to a more expensive violin (not VSO) in the future, I will certainly take it to a luthier to set it up for me as I don't know about violin sound post and bridge setup.

I am not sure what you are aiming at in terms of learning the fiddle, but I know that a lot of beginners hate the way they sound so they find ways to tone it down, often using a mute. That (and your tuning it way down) is fine if you are concentrating on your left hand fingering but generally you want to spend some practice time muteless and at full pitch to work on your bowing and your tone. I also agree that the tuning you are using is way low and would impact you ability to intonate correctly IMHO. Perhaps try it one step down (FCGD). Or perhaps you want to play viola!

If this is a budget fiddle you may be quite correct that making adjustments in soundpost and bridge might make little difference. However a good violin maker can do wonders with tone with a few tweaks of those things. Bridge carving is a true art in itself.

[Stevekos]

yes, for sure synthetic strings in general will always sound and play better than a steel string. They will also be more money, at leastd double, if not triple. It's worth the extra money, but depends on what you need ultimately. So, many country fiddlers prefer steel strings. They like the tone and it suits their style/genre. Sometimes very good players will just keep ordering the same old strings, not really knowing what else a synthetic might do. First, they are more responsive to the touch and have way more timbre possibilities.
Some popular ones that come to mind, Evah Pirazzi, Dominant, Tonicas (are cheap) and Peter Infeld. A great place (lowest prices) you can find at violin-strings.com http:www.violin-strings.com They also give some sound descriptions on each brand, plus a tone comparison chart on the website, that includes the pricing WITH the comparisons on tone.

[Dave Sheets]

If you are still having issues with the E string, try using a Jargar Forte (heavy) e-string. It seems to work well on a lot of violins, you can buy the single E for about $5 typically. Violinists often mix and match strings, trying to find the optimal combination. The E string is the toughest.

For "warm" strings on a fiddle I like Thomastik "reds", Obligatos are also super warm, both to these are pricey string sets sadly.

[maj34]

Sorry, I'm late to the party here. I'd say there are bright/edgy-sounding steel strings, and there are warm-sounding steel strings. If you have about $125 available to experiment, I suggest trying three different steel string sets: Prim (bright edge in my opinion), D'Addario Helicore (warm), and Pirastro Flexocor (warm and fat). All three would be more direct/less rich than a good-quality synthetic string (such as Thomastik Dominant), and I prefer the directness for fiddle music. Different fiddles like different strings in my experience, but I generally like the Flexocor strings.

[kjbllc]

Probably your bowing will play a big difference over time with the sound, I use tonica's which I like, but violins differ so strings work different on each one, I did see a big improvement on my 5 string when I changed from helicores to the tonicas. especially the e .

[Bob Buckingham]

I've played fiddle for nearly 50 years. While some folks like those plastic strings, I have found that for the rigors of fiddling in the various environments this music takes me, steel are the best bet. Helicore, and Thomastick Ropecore are good but I have been using Prims with their Lisa E string. They last a long time and the cheapest place to get them is https://www.swstrings.com/product/strings/violin/P227S