Changing strings

November 28, 2009 at 12:25 PM

After having discovered that my A and D strings had acquired a terrible metalic sound which made my whole violin sound as if it was a 10$ beginner violin, not my wonderful Chinese violin which I cherish, I decided to buy new strings. However I couldn´t buy string till after my orchestra concerts so that I wouldn´t play out of tune the whole time in the concerts, This sadly resulted in that my friend badgered me every 5 minuets to tune my strings and my strings were out of tune until just 5 minuets before we went on the stage. Thankfully my strings kept tune but the next time I practised my violin had the most terrible sound it had ever had. I felt as if I had been jolted back to my beginner days playing a squeaky beginners violin.

So off I went and bought new strings. I use Dominant strings and I was happy indeed to change my strings at last and get the wonderful sound from my violin again, But as the lesson goes, it turned out that after changing the strings I had to tune them every 5 minuets with the aid of my electronic tuner which was a rather tiring. But I gladly went through the ordeal of retuning again and again know that in just a few days time my violin will sound wonderful again. I´ll probably spend most of my next violin lesson watching my teacher exasperatedly retuning my strings again and again (they have a flair for falling out of tune those new one´s) but I know the reward will be great :)

And I love Dominant Strings. They are cheap and have a wonderful sound!

From sharelle taylor
Posted on November 28, 2009 at 9:04 PM

I've not used dominant strings for a couple of years, but the violin I recently trialled was fitted with them. My ears hurt when I played it - there was a loud metallic ring on all of the lower strings. My teacher winced, it bothered her a lot from the start, but I didn't get truly uncomfortable until I'd had it on trial for the whole week. and my 1st and 2nd finger were starting to callus over, my index finger in particular was really sore.

when I took it back to the dealer, I played it for him and then we swapped the dominants for my preferred Corelli alliance, and the difference in feel and sound under ear was immediate. Gentle on the fingers. I commented that I had thought the Corelli's were bright strings and I w as surprised that the violin sounded so soft under my ear, but the dealer was surprised at how much more it projected and the sound was much clearer with the Corellis to the listener in the next room.

I hadn't expected strings to make that much of a difference. If you are ever wanting a change from Dominants, I would fully recommend a go with Corelli Crystals initially, as these are also a soft feeling string with good no metallic sound, and cheap.

From LUIS CLAUDIO MANFIO
Posted on December 1, 2009 at 10:39 AM

Your strings may be old and worn out.

Strings can make a BIG difference. I like DOMINANTS, with the exception of the E string that I change for a LARSEN, it's the choice of many many professional musicians.

www.manfio.com

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Changing strings

Laurie's Books

Subscribe