Information

There are a bewildering number of strings on the market today – far more than there were even 20 years ago. String making companies are vying to produce louder, longer lasting strings in an attempt to take over a larger chunk of the market.

New strings appear every year and although some do capture the players attention, others, having initially been hailed as a miracle, fade away after a year or so. Strings also enjoy a certain popularity based on the style of music played and the area of the country, or the world, you live in. Strings that I am told do well 50 miles away remain a minority purchase here.

There are basically three different types of string core (synthetic, gut, metal) which can have a number of different windings. The synthetic core Dominant D, for example, comes with either aluminium or silver windings. The silver costs more and gives a richer sound. Pirastroʼs new Passione set have introduced a new “hybrid” string as the core is a combination of gut and synthetic materials.

Each core has its own strengths and weaknesses. The above information is essentially our experience of these strings, our customers opinions, and the effects that we have noticed on different instruments that we have sold or set up.

The important thing to remember is that this is only our opinion, the right string for your instrument is the one that works for you, and your bow and fiddle…

Metal core strings are both some of the cheapest and some of the best. Dogals used to sell in large quantities to schools and education authorities, but most people have moved on to better strings. These are very basic one dimensional metal strings that we try not to sell if we can persuade customers to spend more.

DʼAddario Preludeʼs are the cheapest working string in this category and is the bottom of the DʼAddario. The most popular D’Addario string is Helicore followed by Zyex.

The mid-range metals – Precision, Superflexible, once popular are bought by very few musicians, and the more expensive Spirocore we only sell to traditional folk or rock musicians. All three are made by Thomastik. The strings have precious little subtlety of tone but do allow the continuously decorated flowing line of traditional music to appear. Jargar and Prim have very limited classical appeal and again are used mainly by non- classical players.

Probably the best-selling strings at the moment are the medium priced DʼAddario Helicores. Smooth and focused, the sound is quick under the ear and not at all like the in- your-face metal strings mentioned above. A lot of the classical and non-classical players who have tried them have liked them, but like all strings they won't suit every player or every instrument. Trying new strings is always a gamble.

Most of the easily available, commercially made gut core strings are made by the Pirastro company. By far the biggest seller is the Pirastro Eudoxa, selling twice as many as the more expensive and superior Olive.

The Olive is a very good string. Eudoxas do not seem to suit all violins, but then no string does suit all instruments, and it is rare to find instruments below about £1,500 that have the qualities to do justice to gut strings. Although I said Olives are superior to Eudoxas, not everyone would agree. Some do, but choose Eudoxas for their lower price. Others don't hear the difference or find that the stronger sound doesn't work for their violin.

The major problem with Olive strings seems to be the E, which sings beautifully but can be difficult to control. It whistles easily, especially during chord playing, and unlike other E strings it doesn't like to be mixed with other sets. The A string too requires care and takes a while to play in. Players who cannot buy the whole set have been known to buy an Olive E, A and D, and a Eudoxa G since the Olive G is so expensive. They would probably be better off buying the Olive G and using Eudoxa on the A and D, since the increased tension on the bass bar side of the bridge can brighten the sound of the instrument. There was a photograph of Pinchas Zukerman on the front of a Strad magazine many years ago. The violin was strung with Dominants and he had a heavyweight Dominant G string, implying that even with a million pounds worth of old Italian violin he could do with a little more power in the bass.

Eudoxa’s were the choice of most players for generations. The sound has been described as refined yet capable of volume, and they make excellent chamber and orchestral strings. They are, however, very temperamental, and don't last very long. Their detractors say that they are soggy and unfocused and break up at speed. This just highlights the difficulties in appreciating something as subjective as string sound. Change nationality or generation and different qualities are sought after. We have students using the strings their teachers like, only to change their strings as soon as they are free of authoritative restraint…

The Pirastro Gold Label strings probably have no more than 10% of the gut market. They are edgier, feistier strings half the price of the Olives. Because they are slightly coarser, they work quite well on Early Music instruments which, given the lighter bow and smaller soundpost, respond well to the Gold Label's sound. A few years ago, we tried every commercially available gut core string on some Baroque fiddles and the Gold Label strings sounded the best.

We sell more E strings than sets as the E is often mixed with other sets.

Dominant and Tonica are probably the leading brands in terms of overall sales. The other synthetic core strings have not quite caught up with the popularity of Dominants, although many different types have appeared over the years. The Pirastro range has a number of these strings. DʼAddario Zyex appeared with a bang, but most of the customers who tried them have gone back to the strings that they were using before, or gone on to other strings. Thomastik Infeld strings haven't made much of an impression

The best of the bunch seem to be the Obligato and the Passione followed by Larsen Tzigane, and Corelli Crystal. The Corelli Alliance are expensive and we sell very few of them. They have a powerful “soloist” sound and are reputed to last a long time, which may make up for their high price. They have a stronger sound than the cheaper and far more popular Corelli Crystals, which are warmer and “rounder” in tone. Corelli Crystal are like Dominants but, whereas the main criticism of Dominant strings is that, although you get a lot of noise for your money, it's hard to hear the “centre” of the note, the Corelli Crystal strings have more warmth and focus, and are a little cheaper.

The Pirastro Obligato strings are very good and increasingly popular with people wanting a strong, clear, focussed sound. Synthetic core strings bridge the chasm between gut and steel, and the Obligato seems to be the one that sounds closest to a good gut string, having both strength and warmth. They are more responsive than gut (it can take gut some time to get moving) and have a bright but not hard sound. On the negative side, one or two players have found them fuzzy or hollow. This may be down to the set up of the violin of course or the style of playing rather than an accurate criticism of the strings themselves. Obligatoʼs seem to be the favourite string of those moving away from the more temperamental and capricious gut strings whilst looking for power and reliability. Another excellent string is the Larsen. This comes in three types, the original, which is the least popular, the Tzigane which is richer and warmer and the powerful Virtuoso which is similar to the Obligato but stronger and more focused.

Dominant, the first synthetic core string, appeared in the 1970ʼs and is probably one of the most popular strings ever made. The edgy metallic sound wears off after a few days (it’s almost as if synthetic metal strings need a week to play out whilst gut strings need a week to play in). They come in three grades and all sizes. People occasionally say that they are using Dominants and would like to have better strings but at the highest levels there isn't better, only different. Dominants have been used by Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman and Nigel Kennedy (who still does) on fine old Italian violins, and they would have used them because they worked

Many players use Dominant strings on the viola, even those players who might use something else on a violin. Although we do sell Eudoxa’s and Olives, Helicore, Pirrazzi, and Obligato have become the next most popular strings to the once ubiquitous Dominants, although quite a lot of players are put off the latter two by the price. Once agin the cheapset set of working strings are the D'Addario Preludes, which we put on all our instruments up to £500. After that it's mostly Helicore and Tonica.

Some viola players will mix and match in the search for their perfect sound and we have seen some instruments set up with four different types of string (this goes for violins also). Quite often a year later these strings have been changed again, so this may say more about the player than the instrument.

Buying new types of string can be a bit of a gamble and quite expensive, especially for players of larger instruments. New strings are continually appearing on the market and, of course, the makers all claim that they are really good…so how can you tell? It is hard, even for a shop, to keep pace with what is new, what works, and even more importantly what lasts. To help people make a decision we have developed our “String Trial”.

Customers are welcome to call in at the shop by appointment to try out the most popular brands of string on their own instruments, thereby saving hundreds of pounds in the possible purchase of inappropriate strings. There may be a small charge for this service.

The system we suggest is simple, although it did take some time to evolve into its present form. The idea is to eliminate as many variables as possible. Testing the outer strings first does not tell you very much, so we suggest initially working only with the second string from the top. The reason is that the player crosses from the third string, which is a known, to the first string which is also a known, across the second string, which keeps changing.

We suggest that the customer plays on their violin, although it works the same for cello and viola, with their bow for a few minutes to warm up and get used to the ambience of the room. Then we suggest putting on the five or six top (although not necessarily most popular) selling violin A strings. This would probably include Dominant, Pirazzi, Obligato, Helicore, Corelli Crystal and Larsen. If a customer has been recommended a particular string, then we can try one of these as well. Unfortunately, we cannot do this with the gut core strings since they can degrade quickly if they are regularly put on and taken off an instrument…so this eliminates the Chorda, Olive, Eudoxa and Gold Label strings. Having tried a selection of strings from our trial box the player returns to the A string they felt gave them the quality the most felt that they were looking for, and then puts on the D string. If the D string suits then 99 times out of 100 the G will also. Having established our three lower strings, a variety of E strings can also be tested. Many players do not use the E string that comes with the standard set but buy the string that gives them the singing quality they want in the upper register. Occasionally customers have been known to end up with a mixture of three different types of string on their instrument.

It is also worth remembering that many strings come in different weights. There are, for example, six different Larsen cello A strings. If you like the sound of the Corelli Crystal D string, but feel that it sounds a little weaker than the G, then try a heavier Corelli D. A photograph of Pinchas Zuckerman in the Strad magazine some years back showed the Violin he was holding to be strung with Dominant strings…but he had a heavy weight Dominant G on the bottom showing that even a Guarneri Del Gesu violin might need a bit of help sometimes.

A simple way to assess this yourself can be done at home. If you feel that one string is weaker or stronger than another then you can compensate by tuning it up, or down a semi tone. if the string feels more in balance, then that may indicate that a lighter or heavier string may be in order.

NB. This test, although rough, has proved to be very effective but it can only work if every other variable has been checked. There is no point in buying a different weight of string if the imbalance is being caused by faulty set up or an ill-fitting soundpost. Make sure the violin is properly serviced first.

These days it is very rare to come across dud strings given the refined techniques of modern string winding. It does occasionally happen of course but this mostly with gut core silver wound strings, which are subject to changes of temperature and humidity. Most string breakages are usually caused by user error, or roughness at the nut or bridge. If you should have a reoccurring problem with strings breaking, we would be happy to look over your instrument to see if the problem can be rectified.

For years cellists needed Jargar strings. They were cheap and fairly brash. Cello sound is fairly low down in the mix, and whereas a violin solo could float out over the top of the orchestra, a cello is down there with all the other growly instruments and so needed to be strung with heavy metal just to be heard. Dominant was often the next choice, especially for chamber work. A warmer and richer sound, they were also easier to control for the beginner.

Since the advent of the new generation of metal and synthetic strings, things have changed. Larsen are now the most popular cello strings, eclipsing the sale of Jargars by six to one. The Larsen A is almost the essential A string on any cello. It comes in six different grades, so youʼre bound to find one that suits. If not then it will probably be a Jargar.

Jargar sets we sell mostly to older players who have always used them, or to players of cheaper student cellos. We tend to put the ever reliable Prelude on our cheaper student models, soft Jargars on the next level and, invariably, Larsen on anything over £1500. Some of the cheap Chinese and East European instruments can be coarse at the top.

Permanant leads the rest in popularity, but again we sell very few of these…and almost no- one uses Dominants on a cello anymore

Yes! They do exist, and they sound one fifth above the cello A. For years, Cellists who wanted to double a violin part an octave below, or who had a rare five string cello, had to make do with nylon guitar strings or the commercially available bass viol D strings which were tuned up a tone.

We have now found four purpose made cello E strings, two by the Supersensitive company in America, one by Thomastik, and one by Larsen. Thomastik make a cello E string that compliments their Spirocore set, and we bought all of the last batch they made. The sound of a cello e string is a little thin since the cello is not designed acoustically for this stringing, but the Spirocore works quite well and is probably the best of the bunch, even though it is half the price of its closest rival, the Larsen. We have mixed them with Helicores, Larsens and Dominants to good effect and they amplify well. You can just move your top three strings over one place and put the new e string where the a used to be.

There isn’t much call for them except in the folk/rock worlds but if you’ve got a spare cello, you could give it a go.

Many players coming into our shop admit to a degree of confusion when it comes to choosing an instrument or bow. This confusion is not really surprising. Beginners have no point of comparison and are often afraid to trust their own judgment. More experienced players can be hampered by being too close to the instrument; they know what they think it should do, but are invariably bringing techniques and expectations developed using different, and sometimes, inferior equipment. Many players have instruments and bows that were either inherited or chosen for them by a teacher, and it is quite possible to play an instrument for 20 years and never have the experience of choosing one for oneself.

Over the years we have watched a lot of people choosing violins and bows and this is an attempt to summarize our experience. These are observations and suggestions rather than a list of do’s and don’ts and almost all have been gleaned from the remarks of players and teachers themselves.

First the bad news. Buying a better violin, viola, or cello will not make you a better musician, because the instrument doesn’t actually do anything … it just sits there, and you have to do all the work of making music. A violin can be likened to a palette of colours, and the bow to the brush (or to be more accurate, the brushes). So buying a better violin does not actually make you a better violinist in the way that having another 50 paints would not make you a better painter. The left hand plays the notes, and is responsible for intonation, but it is the right hand, the bow arm (responsible for tone, rhythm and phrasing) that makes the music. So if the violin does not actually play the music then there is a very good argument for not playing too much music when you test them.

You can also see therefore how important it is to test violins with a good bow. If you aren’t buying a new bow make sure that you aren’t using a poor-quality bow, even if it’s the one you would normally use and you “know” it. If you play a Stradivari violin worth a million with a £30 bow, then what you are is a £30 violinist.

When most people try a selection of violins what we usually hear first is their musical personality, rather than the sound of the instruments. The musical personality of the player is of course very important (people spend years working hard at becoming the player they are) but the “musical personality” is really only important when performing – and it can often get in the way of hearing what the equipment wants to do. It is not surprising that instruments of widely differing ages, qualities, and nationalities can all sound much the same when it is the player we are listening to, rather than the instrument.

Anyone who can say after 30 minutes that they can’t tell the difference between half a dozen violins is listening to themselves playing, and not the equipment. If they “all sound the same” then stop making them sound the same.

Testing an instrument or bow is not like practicing or performing. Rather it’s a bit like test driving a car – you are revving the engine, exploring the possibilities of the vehicle rather than going on a journey. One of the best ways to test instruments is to accentuate the differences between them. Often the “less is more” principle applies. If the violin is properly set up you should be able to take it for granted that it will play the music – so don’t play the music.

What the player needs to do is find out how the instrument will play the music. Reduced to a ridiculous extreme, all the instrument has to do is play loud, soft, fast and slow. If it will do that on a couple of scales of the player’s choice then it should be able to handle the piece of unaccompanied Bach or the Irish jig you wish to play on it when you get it home. In any violin shop you only have a limited amount of time and you should be making a shortlist of possibilities rather than airing your repertoire.

Often, one of the least helpful things a player can do is to put a piece of music up on a stand, because then the concentration is on the notes 2 feet in front of them instead of on the instrument they are playing.

Sadly, few training systems encourage playing away from the notes. If you do feel the need to play a piece, then don’t work on your latest one (because you don’t know it yet!) – play something you know very well, and don’t play too long, or feel you must get to the end of it. When you move to another instrument, play the same piece. Listen in, not to the notes, but to the sound. Sometimes parents or teachers, if present, can be overly critical of posture or intonation. Remember, this is a short-listing experience, it is not a lesson, and it is important to make the choosing process as stress free as possible – even fun (!) – as well as educational.

What the player is learning, or rather realizing here, is something other than technique. Anyone who has played for even a few years has put a lot of hours into the instrument and our job is to help players make a decision by showing them that they already know far more than they think they know. It is a constant source of delight how many players of all ages come into the shop saying they can’t tell one instrument from another, and within an hour or so are making very subtle distinctions between different qualities of sound. If we can reduce the “what can I make it do?” question to loud, soft, fast and slow, then how are we going to approach the other question “what does it want to do?” This aspect of instrument playing seems to be almost entirely ignored by the western classical and folk traditions – the former in particular seeming to concentrate on dominating the instrument and projecting as big a sound as possible.

The best way for a player to hear the sound of the instrument is to rest the bow on the string, and then draw it over the string, using just enough weight from the bowing arm to focus the sound. “Float” the sound out and maybe doodle a little, just playing a few notes and listening to the quality of the sound. Doing this you are just focusing the sound, rather than projecting it. Feel how hard you have to work to keep the sound present without either forcing it or letting it get away. Pick up the next violin and do the same. If you are testing violins use the same bow, (and if you are testing bows use the same violin), so that of the three variables, player, bow and violin, only one will change.

Two things will become apparent. One is that the volume and quality of sound will be different from one instrument to another, and the next is that you will have to work the bow differently to focus the sound, depending on which violin you are trying. So…do you like the sound you are producing? Shifting the emphasis, how hard did you have to work the bow to create that sound? If you have to work harder on one instrument than another to produce the sound, is the extra effort worth it in terms of quality of sound produced? Liking the sound of your instrument is important. If you want a rich, warm sound then a harder, edgy violin will not give you that, and vice versa. By listening to the sound like this you are hearing what the equipment wants to do. Is the sound full or thin, warm, dry, edgy, muffled, focused, muddy – or any other subjective description/adjective/word you choose to use.

In our experience most people buy the instrument or bow they like the sound of when they are doing the least. That way, when you do play the instrument, you know you are working together.

The whole Harry Potter phenomenon has had a very interesting effect on people’s awareness of this. Just reminding the average Potter fan that “the wand chooses the wizard”, and making the point that the violin “chooses” the player, or the bow “chooses” the instrument has been known to transform the possibly frightening task of choosing an instrument into a fun and even, dare I say, “Magical” experience…(Ouch)…

Similar principles can be applied to choosing bows as to choosing violins.
It is always best to try out bows on the instrument you play. It may seem obvious but quite a number of customers will turn up without their instrument not realising that there is a particular relationship between the instrument, and the bow that drives it. Each bow will bring out subtle differences in the instrument that it is tested on, and there is little point in choosing a bow that works well on a strange violin, when it is supposed to be working on yours.

There are three things going on when a bow hits the string.

One is Volume … some bows just seem to be a little louder than others, but this is not the most important consideration for most people. The second is Tone … some bows have a more complex signal than others and it's a good sign if each note sounds like a little chord … and the third is what you might call Focus … when the bow hits the string does something happen? Three bows from the same workshop, at the same price and with the same rosin may give surprisingly different results, results that can be easily obscured if the player is working to create a sound rather than listening to the sound produced.

So, as in the testing instruments section above, there are two almost opposing ways of approaching this. First is the “Dominator” model…which can be summed up as … “What can I make it do?”. This reduces down to playing loud, soft, fast and slow (in various combinations) and crossing strings. The second is the “What does it want to do?” model, the “Less is More” system which works as well for bows as it does violins.

In the first system most people play, or have been advised to play, scales, and maybe a piece they know quite well. This often teaches them very little since they are using the playing skills developed on their old equipment, and they can often be stuck in that particular mind-set when approaching any new equipment. Very often, at the end of an hour, they have done a lot of practicing, but haven't actually heard what the bows are doing. They have been trying to make them conform to the sound in their heads. They are often confused.

Listening to the equipment is rarely taught in the Western classical or folk music systems. But as soon as ones preconceptions are left behind subtle distinctions can be made. So the second approach, the “What does the bow want to do when its on the string?” can be a little counter-intuitive for players who have spent many hundreds of hours developing their particular approach to playing. It is however the most transparent method, and when understood yields the quickest results. Once again the Harry Potter method works well... find a way to let the bow choose the violin.

Violin glue is hygroscopic, and is subject to changes of temperature and humidity. The heat and sweat of the players hand and body can contribute to the seams of an instrument springing open. Very often, if this happens, the instrument will rattle or buzz on all, or sometimes just on specifically resonant, notes. Open seams should be glued as soon as possible to avoid complications.

All bridges will warp over time due both to the pressure downwards, which is in excess of 20 kilos in some cases, and the pull exerted towards the pegs and tailpiece during tuning. Bridges are now lasting for far shorter periods of time due to greater modern string tensions and, in particular, the overuse of adjusters. For centuries bridges used to warp towards the nut, but the widespread use of adjusters has caused bridges to pull backward. The bridge is upright at the back (roughly 90 degrees to the front or table) and curved at the front with the visible markings (medullary rays) running out of the back of the bridge. This is to strengthen the bridge when pulled towards the peg box, but serves to weaken the bridge when pulled back towards the tail piece.

Since the tailpiece of a violin is only about 2” from the bridge warpage can occur quite quickly. Bridges that might have lasted for decades a couple of generations ago may now only last a year or two if the instrument is tuned only from the adjusters. Check that the feet of the bridge sit down on the front of the instrument, that they fit properly, and that the back of the bridge is at 90 degrees to the front of the violin (this is measured behind the bridge. Since the front of a bridge is curved and the back is flat, the bridge when upright may appear to be leaning back slightly. If a bridge looks like it is leaning forwards then it is.

Check that the strings have not cut their way through the wood at the top of the bridge, as this can inhibit their vibration if they are pinched by the wood on either side. A string should be “proud" of the bridge-wood by at least 50%. Strings that have cut into the bridge can cause problems for both fingering and bowing. A large proportion of the instruments we see have bridges that are badly curved on the top causing problems during string crossings when the bow will “foul” another string. If the bridge curvature is incorrect then players can also have problems of intonation, especially double stopping, as the strings are not being pushed the same distance down on to the fingerboard and are therefore being “bent” out of tune.

Pegs wear and are also affected by temperature and humidity changes. It doesn't matter how good an instrument is: you canʼt play it if you are unable to tune it. Because the pegs are made of wood, the original tapered cylinder (usually a 1:30 taper) will gradually turn oval with time. This is a perfectly natural occurrence.

Pegs may be “doped” to work better, with the application of proprietary pastes. If this does not work, new pegs usually have to be fitted. If the peg holes are too large or badly worn, new wooden bushings may have to be put in and new pegs fitted through them, which doubles the job and therefore the price.

Pegs should be fitted so that the top of the strings go straight from the instruments nut, at the end of the fingerboard, to the peg, without touching any of the other pegs. If a string touches another peg then it can be pulled out of tune when the other peg is turned… Strings fouling on the other pegs in a peg box can have a serious effect on tuning.

Varnish will wear over time and can be chipped off if knocked. Varnish is not just cosmetic, it protects the violin from the sweat, rosin and dirt that soon affects exposed wood. It is a good idea to re-varnish damaged wood as soon as possible to seal it. Do not touch areas of chipped off varnish as the chemicals in your hands can make the job harder to do.

Soundposts often become tight over time, especially in new instruments which have not been under pressure before, and recently overhauled ones that have had a period with the tension relaxed.

A tight soundpost is a potential danger as well as having the effect of over damping down the vibrations of the front. The job of the soundpost is to create a node or “stillpoint” around which the violin front oscillates. If too tight or too loose the quality of sound suffers.

Rosin comes in various shades of the two basic colours: a dark treacly brown and a light golden honey colour. Dark rosin is dark because it has been cooked for longer and it is this that makes it stickier. The same is true of cooking anything. Visually rosins are indistinguishable on the bow as they all form a white powder. They do however have different qualities. There are differing opinions about rosin. Some players think that the stickier rosins make the strings respond better, but of course this will be just another variable along with set-up, stringing, and instrument quality and of course, bow pressure – not to mention bow quality. The larger the instrument the softer (and stickier) the rosin used tends to be. Double bass players use something that looks like toffee.

Different rosins use different qualities of tree resin. They are cooked for differing periods of time and under different conditions, and may even have various quantities of metals or other additives put in to enhance certain properties. There are dozens of types. Some carry the brand name of a particular string, and these may well be worth trying if you use those particular strings, as string makers should have developed them specifically to help make their strings respond. Both Dominant and Larsen have brought out a rosin, and there are a number in the Pirastro range. How much research has actually been put into this is impossible to tell. it could be that a string maker has produced their “Own Brand” rosin as just another way of making money. We have however had customers who have tried a rosin designed for one type of string on a different type of string, and found that tone quality and pickup from the bow have deteriorated, but that might also be due to a variety of other factors.

There are increasing numbers of people who have developed allergies to rosin dust and there are now several rosins on the market designed to reduce allergic response. These are generally cooked in a vacuum. Both Kolstein, Geipel and the newer Larsen rosin produce quite low levels of dust, but we have had customers who have reported problems with all of them. There is now a rosin which is entirely synthetic and produces no dust at all. It’s called Clarity. It is made by the American Supersensitive company and it obviously comes from research in the petrochemical industry. It won’t help the ozone layer, but it will stop you crying when you play. It is entirely transparent (it looks like a Glacier Mint) and gives a mellow sound that several of our customers have said they really like, and you won’t get the build-up of white dust on the front of your instrument.

Rosin is partially refined tree resin. Rosin sticks to the tiny scales that line each hair so that they continually catch and let go of the string. This happens thousands of times on all of the 150 odd hairs that make up a newly re-haired bow and without it a bow will just glide silently over the strings.

Too much rosin can create a coarse, gritty, and uneven sound. The reasons for over-rosining a bow can include old (tired) hair, dead strings, nervousness at the prospect of playing in public, and even, in some cases, a lack of interest in tone. Over-rosining is often an attempt to compensate for other problems with regard to the playability of the instrument. It is usually caused by the desire to create more volume. Over-rosining the bow can also have a reverse effect, as it can cause the bow to slide over the strings, almost as if it has been soaped. The players usual response to this of course is to put on even more rosin which just adds to the problem. The quality of the rosin also has a profound effect on the nature of the contact between bow and string although this is more a matter of focus rather than tone.

A build-up of rosin on the strings can be removed by the application of an alcohol based fluid. You can even use perfume or aftershave. Dab a little on a piece of cotton wool or soft clean cloth, and carefully wipe over the playing area. It is a good idea to do this from time to time. You can also clean the rest of the strings and the fingerboard to remove any dirt, sweat or grease from finger contact. As hair and strings become old they lose quality, and over rosining often follows as a consequence. What you then hear is the sound of dirty hair catching in a build-up of rosin, on tired strings.

Bow hair can also be cleaned but this is a job definitely best left to a specialist. Very often wiping with a soft clean cloth or very carefully brushing the hair through with something like a soft toothbrush will help remove a build-up of old or excess rosin. If your hair is grey, brown or yellow it may be time for a re-hair – it’s supposed to be white.

Art Craft Dark, also called No7, is a dark coloured, sticky rosin, which helps the bow to stay on the string as is a professional quality rosin for under £10. Art Craft Light (also confusingly called No.7) is a paler and softer rosin. We prefer the Dark which we tend to use as our “House” rosin but have sold both to violin, viola and cello players

Andrea Bang Rosins, are now marketed under the name Cecilia, although they were first introduced under the name Tartini. They come in various blends, and although many people can’t see the point of spending that much money on a block of rosin most of those who try them are converted. Every bow we have put it on has, to some extent, been improved. There is now the Sanctus blend which, at £62, has yet to find a buyer. It is one we use in the shop however, as it works very well.

The old Liebenzeller rosin has now reappeared under the name Larica. The originator of Liebenzeller, Renate Schmidt, who sold the recipe to the new suppliers, has written to her old customers stating her dissatisfaction with the way the new rosin has been produced. Those regular users we have sold it to however have been perfectly happy with it.

The various rosins of the Pirastro range are all steady sellers, probably the most popular is Goldflex, but we sell a lot of Gold, Obligato and Evah-Pirazzi to users of those particular strings.

Fingerboards wear with use, especially now that increasing numbers of players are using strong metal strings. “Shooting” the fingerboard (shooting comes from the Old English word meaning to pass over … as in “shoot the rapids”), can eliminate the buzzes and dead areas that come from having ruts in a fingerboard, and make the instrument considerably easier to play. It can also correct faulty intonation.

Keep the violin, fingerboard, strings and bow hair as clean as possible. Rosin dust, sweat, and atmospheric dirt in combination can have a clogging effect on both strings and bow. Dirt on the body can inhibit the vibration of the instrument and therefore contribute to a dullness of tone. String sound begins under your finger, so rosin and dirt on the fingerboard can interfere with the vibration of the string before it hits the bridge. Sometimes just cleaning a finger board can have a noticeable effect on tone production.

Although there are proprietary cleaners, some leave a residue or contain solvents. Use them sparingly. Having the instrument and fingerboard cleaned professionally can make a difference to the quality of sound.

Many of the strings that come in tubes do not need to be kept straight. Gut core strings such as Oliv, Eudoxa and Gold Label used to need tubes, but these now come in packets. The steel and aluminium wound nylon core strings are all coiled. All of Pirastro’s other strings, including Tonica, Pirazzi and Obligato are now only available in packets.

The E string is the only string available in plain steel or wound version.

Winding a string affects the mass of the string and this effects tone. Although the greater technology involved in the wound or coated string should increase the complexity of the sound (it certainly increases the price) not everyone agrees. A number of customers have preferred the sound of their violins with unwound E strings.

Winding a string may make it feel more comfortable under the fingers and some people claim to have noticed an increase in volume and a decrease in the likelihood of whistling. Like winding, coating a string with gold plating may protect the string and prolong its active life.

NB…Quite a few of the Pirastro E strings come in both a plain, usually called “silvery steel”, and a wound version. The wound version is the more expensive. What is interesting is that all of the plain steel strings are exactly the same whatever the coloured winding they have. There is no difference between the Gold and Passione steel Eʼs even though the sets vary enormously in type and price. Some customers don't believe this and claim to hear a difference, but that is probably just the difference between a new and an old string.

To avoid confusion, and disappointment, it's a good idea to make a note of which type you are currently using rather than just asking for an E string.

Whistling E strings can be caused by a number of things. About 25% of whistling Eʼs are due to technique, such as the side of the 1st finger overhanging the fingerboard and touching the string, or the player ‘grabbing’ the E string when passing from the A string to the E and back. It can also be caused by the angle of the bow mixed with incorrect bow pressure.

Most of the time however a whistling problem is caused by a faulty set up. The string can be too low in the nut so that when it vibrates it hits the top of the fingerboard, or the fingerboard has holes in it (through wear), or a build-up of dirt and rosin There may also be a problem with the bridge, or the sound post may not fit properly. It may be, on a violin that has not been serviced for some time, that a combination of these factors creates the problem.

The strings themselves may be incompatible. The capricious Olive E string does not like to be mixed with Dominants, for example, although, of course not everybody will have a problem with a particular combination of strings. The strings themselves may be old and cranky and no longer playing true. Sometimes an extra length of string in the peg box can vibrate, causing a strange noise.

We have sometimes found that a bow might be incompatible with certain strings, or even that a change of rosin can cause squeaking.

In the shop, we follow a certain procedure:

1. Does someone else using the same equipment have the same problem?
2. Does the player have the same problem with a different bow on the same violin,
3. or the same bow on a different one?

If the whistle occurs on several violins with different bows, then the problem lies with the player. If the whistle is on different violins with the same bow, then it may be the bow or the player. If it is on the same violin with different bows, then it may be the set up. It usually takes only a few minutes to assess the problem. However we once spent an hour trying to sort out a problem that was eventually traced to a block of Pirastro rosin bought the week before by someone using Dominant strings, and with the rosin removed and replaced with the original brand, the problem was solved.

In those cases where nothing seems to alleviate the problem, the usual recourse is to the Kaplan “Non-Whistling” E string. This has a strong, and very individual, sound, not liked by everybody, but it is guaranteed not to whistle. The Pirastro No1 Universal string has helped some people overcome this problem as has the Wondertone Solo Advanced (not the Wondertone Solo which is a totally different string) but they don't always work.

Strings, if they are new, usually break where they touch something. This will be either the nut, bridge, tailpiece, peg or pegbox.

In the vast majority of cases, probably nine times out of ten, any string broken above the nut has been wound too tightly up against the peg box wall. This is a common fault, and one that we have made ourselves from time to time. Even very experienced players have been known to do this. No string supplier accepts responsibility for strings that are broken above the nut as this is due to the way the string has been put on, and this would therefore be classed as “user error”. Usually what has happened is that the string has been bunched up against the side of the peg box and snapped under tension. The wood of the pegbox wall is of course considerably stronger than the string itself. Sometimes the nut groove is too sharp, perhaps because the wood has become damaged over time. As a string gets worn the winding can become loose, and each time the instrument is tuned the loose winding can act like a little saw, roughening up the groove and shortening the life of any new strings that are then put on. If your strings do break regularly at the tailpiece, nut, bridge or peg it may be worth getting the instrument itself checked. Unfortunately, we cannot give a refund on strings broken in this way.

Sometimes one hears, "it must have been a faulty string, it didnt even come up to pitch". Since they are specifically desgned to "come up to pitch" this is almost never the reason, so there is something else going on for the string to break. With modern string winding techniques being now so advanced we almost never see a faulty string.

Cellos are built on the cusp of collapse. If you scaled up a violin to the size of a cello it would be too heavy to sound and hard to control, so cellos have to be made quite light for their size. Being thin it becomes prone to irregularities in sound, and in particular produces what are usually referred to as "Wolf Notes". This is actually not so much a note, as an absence of a note, and seems to occur when the cellist is playing something that beats against what the cello wants to play. Every instrument has what is called an air resonance, the sound of the air inside it, and a wood resonance…the sound that the wood would make if you excited it. This latter is the resonance that interferes with the note played, and usually occurs in the "quicksand area" located somewhere between D,E, F, F sharp and G. Occasionally they can be found on a C or an A note, but mostly they are based around F and F sharp. A wolf note affects the notes either side of the main one which means that the whole area has to be approached carefully. These tricky notes vibrate on one of the main nodes of the instrument, and can be "baffled" by applying pressure to the spot where they occur, thus cutting down on any troublesome vibrations.

There are different ways of affecting a wolfnote. Sometimes a lighter or heavier string has been known to push a wolf note onto a quarter tone that is not usually played…a weight, of which there are several types, added to the string behind the tailpiece and tuned to the offending note can also help, but these are never ideal solutions and rarely work well unless the wolfnote is quite mild. The options that work the best are, fixing an internal eliminator, or applying a magnet to the problem area. The internal eliminator works well although rarely removes the whole thing. The main criticism is that it can affect the instrument’s resonance, which is hardly surprising as that is the intention behind fitting one. Most players are more than happy to have this happen if it removes the problematic wolf. The Krentz eliminator is more expensive and works by clamping the troublesome area between two magnets. This is visible as a small black circular magnet on the outside of the cello whilst a longer column is on the inside. The advantage of the Krentz is that it is adjustable should the strings or post be changed thus altering the bodies resonance. As it is not glued in it is also possible to remove it and apply it to another instrument. The Krentz stays with the player rather than belonging to the cello

Occasionally wolf notes can be found on violins and violas as well as cellos. The same wolf note eliminators as the types mentioned above are available for the smaller instruments but we hardly ever sell them. We have had some success with altering the stringing, adjusting (usually tightening) the post and, surprisingly, changing the tailpiece. We laid out ½ dozen wooden tailpieces in weight order for one customer who said that a lump of blue tack on his own tailpiece had improved the note. One of the tailpieces had the mass to baffle the wolf and the customer walked away happy.

This can be a hard one to answer. There is a roughly correct starting position for a post but all instruments will deviate slightly from it. To decide, one plays an instrument, listens in to the sound, and then checks this against the position of the post and the age and type of the strings. One then decides, all other things being equal, whether the soundpost is doing its job. The “bottom line” on this is that, if you like the sound of your violin then the post is in the right place…for you, and your musical aesthetic, no matter what an “expert” says. The post is only one, albeit a vital one, of the factors effecting sound.

Another unanswerable question! How well is the violin working? Are you happy with the sound? What would you like more of, or less of? What other factors will be involved in tone production?

Strings are the final thing to consider after making sure that the rest of the instrument is working properly.

That depends. Once again, if you are happy with the way it works change nothing, even if it technically breaks all the rules. Otherwise you might be disappointed. If you have an issue, technical or tonal, then we can look into that. If you can help make a violin play fast and clean then everyone is happy, tone however is personal and the tonal impact of any work must be pointed out.

Another difficult one! The short answer is “until it works” and then stop. Ideally a bow should work all along its length under its own weight. I suggest pulling the bow across the D string applying just enough pressure to keep it on the string. If the sound disappears at any point then apply more rosin to that area. There are of course many other factors involved in sound production. Tired strings can result in the player over rosining in an attempt to compensate for the loss of sound. A tight soundpost and worn hair can also contribute to a poor pickup of sound. There is more information on rosin and soundposts above, in the Knowledge section of this website.

We do have lists of teachers for Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass, and can point you in the direction of any that might be local to you. There are also those who might specialise in different styles of music…Classical, jazz, various types of folk music etc, but apart from that we can’t really recommend one as to do so would mean that we are discriminating between them.

We may be able to replace bow grips, and broken catches but the general answer is no, we don’t. You can always send us a photograph of the problem and we will see if we might be able to help.

No, we do not rehair bows and this is partly as a courtesy to those who do. There are a few people working in this area and we can give you their names and contact details.

The Bristol Violin Shop offers a part payment scheme. This scheme is interest-free and available for all instruments bows and cases with a combined value of £500 upwards at the point of purchase.

There is also a potential option for purchases under £500, please see below. This will have to be discussed with BVS staff.

How it works
• The 1st monthly payment is to be paid on day of purchase, with the first payment being at least 30% of the total value.
• Once the customer has paid a down payment of 30%, the remaining balance is to be paid off within 12 months.
• A £50 admin fee must also be paid by the customer on the day of purchase.
• Once the payments have been completed in full, it is the responsibility of the customer to cancel the standing order with their bank.
• If the instrument is returned, the part payments are non-refundable.

Purchases under £500
• The 1st monthly payment is to be paid on day of purchase, with the first payment being at least 30% of the total value.
• The remaining balance is to be paid off over a maximum of 3 months.

Upkeep and insurance
• From the date of the initial payment, all general maintenance of the instrument (including strings, bow rehairs, cleaning etc.) is the responsibility of the customer.
• With regards to insurance, the instrument is covered under the Bristol Violin Shops policy until the time it is fully paid off, at which point it becomes the customers responsibility. Insurance costs £1 for every thousand each month- this is to be added onto the monthly payments at the time of purchase. For example if the instrument is worth £500 the insurance is £1 a month. If the instrument is £3500 the insurance would cost £3 a month, and so on.

Part exchanging in the future
• As with all of our instruments, once fully purchased, we offer the option to part exchange. Details can be found on the back of our receipts.

Please note that the Bristol Violin Shop remains the owner of the instrument until such time as it is paid for in full.