Well thats it . . if your a fiddle begginer would you waste your money on expensive strings . . I’m talking 20/30 + pounds, when for the first 6 months I’m going to sound like a cat on heat anyway.
And so what strings would you recommend for say less than a tenner?
I already play the mandolin by the way . . .
Beginner before somebody pulls me up :-0
A thought:
It might be to your advantage long-term not to go too cheap with either the strings or the bow, since that is where the sound is created and then transmitted to the fiddle itself.
Build your technique while playing an economy fiddle, but where you are in contact with the instrument (ie. actually making the music) try to do the best you can on your gear.
Good luck.
Short answer is NO NAY NEVER. Budget strings make a beginner sound much worse than they actually are very bad for the self esteem and perseverance levels. Would you give a beginner cyclist a bike with square wooden wheels? Its a similar analogy.
I agree with you to a certain extent Joze . . I have played the guitar for many years, and the worst thing you can do to to someone about to learn the guitar is to buy a cheap model with a neck like a tree trunk and action 1/2 inch from the fretboard . .
these instruments are impossible to play and would make a novice give up almost at once.
I suppose what it sounds like is a bit of a different argument . . .
I appreciate everybodys advise up to now . . honestly . . but I would still like to hear someone who knows of cheap strings as I don’t have a lot of money to spend.Just for the first 6 months . . after that I’d buy better . .
Well, there are of course loads of choices in the high end market, but that’s not what you’re looking for.
Thomastik Precision are ok and run at about 25 euro.
If you need cheaper, you could look for DADI strings on ebay. I put a set of these on a viola and they do the job just fine.
When you’re ready for good strings, get yourself a set of Thomastik Spirocore. Dominant and Helicore are also popular. Personally I use Spirocore.
You could also try D’Addario Prelude. I have no experience with them myself though.
Have a browse on www.stringmail.co.uk
Tradshark . . been on ebay and Dadi strings are only 2 pound a set !
The simple answer is don’t waste your money on cheap strings as It’s false economy. By the same token if your are a begginner I would say that it doesn’t make sense for you to purchase the most expensive either. If you do have a very limited budget then go and check out the prices of the strings at your local dealer and also compare prices on the internet. I was recently surprised by the fact that my local violin shop was cheaper than the internet. You can pick up really good quality strings for just over £20.00 that will last you a long time depending on how often you play and how well you look after them. I know it’s all relative I guess in as much as £20.00 to some people would be an evenings fag and beer money …. to others it would be the price of a good set of strings that they knew would make their instrument sound good whilst retaining a consistant sound and stayed in tune longer … I guess the old addage is true … you only get what you pay for!
Yup. As I said, I’ve used the viola strings, and they seemed ok. The fiddle strings will probably do you the finest till you’re ready for something more.
I don’t subscribe to the notion that you need the best gear to learn. I think you can learn on anything so long as it’s serviceable.
You probably know this, but remember, you won’t need to buy fiddle strings as often as you buy guitar strings. They don’t break as easily and they last longer. Just keep that in mind when you’re budgeting.
Best of luck!
I used rotosound violin strings when I was learning…..used to get them for £8 a set, think they are more like £12 a set now. They aren’t bad strings and are cheaper than some of the others, but you may want to move on to dominants as your playing improves. In fact, my budget fiddle, which is going to a good home with a learner, still boasts a set of roto’s….
“how well you look after them”
that’s a great point. The real expense in strings is when they break (or something else happens) and you have to replace them. So learn to put them on carefully, slowly, always bring them up to pitch and never past pitch and back down (I’ve broken a string by being too impatient when winding it on for the first time). Always wipe them down with a cloth after you play so the rosin doesn’t build up on them.
I remember once buying rotosound strings for my mandolin and the sounded OK to my ears . . might buy a set of them . .
Prelude strings are about the best cheap strings I know, I get them for a lot of my students. If you want to spend a bit more for a nicer tone I’d recommend Helicore or Spirocore.
buy Prim. they are very cheap , with decent sound and last long
Strings will last longer if you have a low(ish) action on the fiddle, so that you don’t have to push your fingers down hard, and there is less stress on the strings when fingered.
Make sure your finger nails are short.
Don’t use cheap strings! My fiddle came with Red Label Super Sensitives and I din’t know any better for the first 6 months I was playing. I couldn’t even tell if I was sharp or flat! On advice I changed to Helicore Mediums and it made a great difference even on my inexpensive Cinese made fiddle.
I now use Evah Pirazzi with a gold E and its great. I have had them on for over a year and they still sound great even with practicing/playing everday. Very expensive but worth it. Try the Helicore Mediums first then work up to better strings.
Red Label Super Sensitives?
- they weren’t supplied by a pharmacist, were they 😉
They might as well have been for all the good they did! lol!
Blech! I was also a Super-Sensitive loser for my first few months. That wasn’t so great a move.
Since then, I moved onto Dominants, but then settled with Helicore Heavy Tension (I do a lot of retuning, so heavy tension helps in B-flat). Helicores have a pretty rich sound, aren’t the cheapest but aren’t the most expensive either. I know a lot of people who are happy with them, so I say try ’em.
--DtM
I would spring for something decent. I only replace my viola strings every six months or so, and I’m studying viola in college. For the fiddle I’m using Thomastik Dominants right now. They are moderately priced (US$35) and have a pretty good all-around sound. I have a violin-major friend who switches between Dominants and Evahs.
Here is what I would recommend: buy some dominance strings with good tone (they’re a little steep, but I know a guy who has used the same set for 5 years and they still sound great) because these will give you a good tone with as little harsh tinnyness as possible. If you’re looking for cheaper (which you obviously are) D’Addario Helicore are what I use. They have descent tone, good response (get the thickest onces, they’re easier to play), and I got a full set for around 20 USD. Not a bad deal (a lot of pros use these, too).
I know a concert violinist who plays his concertos etc on Helicors - and tunes them from the pegs of his Cremona fiddle. So Helicors may not be a bad choice for a good balance between quality and not being too expensive.
I’m just learning to play fiddle myself -- past 5 months. I’ve just recently learned how to change the strings, etc. The cheapo strings that were put on my fiddle for me lasted less than 5 months. (It took me a few weeks to figure out that the awful screeching sound was wore out strings -- not me! -- which was a relief when I finally figured it out, I’ll tell ’ya!) Anyway . . . I will NEVER EVER BUY CHEAP STRINGS AGAIN . . . EVER!
NEVER! Really, I won’t.
As a senior who has decided to learn how to play my old resurrected violin that the local luthier claimed was worth the expenditure to resurrect, I too wonder about string quality. I had him put the Prelude strings on as a start but now that I am becoming more confident with my fingering and bowing I question whether it will make much difference in the tone as the strings get older. Do aging strings effect the tone in any way. Is there a general rule as to when strings should be replaced? Does the number of hours played on the strings have any effect?
Thanks for any reples!
Strings are certainly ready for replacement when it’s obvious to the ear that they have lost their youthful brightness, sound dull and no longer produce the volume of tone they once did. That is the only “general rule” I can think of.
How long this takes depends on many factors. A beginner is usually a lot lighter bowing on strings than an experience player would be. A beginner is usually not physically capable of putting in the hours of playing that a professional needs. Strings tend to last longer if the action is lower. A good player will tend to use a fairly light touch on the strings (i.e. not pressing them down unnecessarily hard), and this too will help to extend string life.
I would expect the better steel-core strings (such as Helicore and Spirocore) to last longer than synthetic core strings - but this is
subjective as far as I am concerned.
Perhaps a busy experienced amateur will replace strings every 4-6 months. A busy classical orchestral pro might very well change them at a shorter period. I know of the leader of a professional string quartet who changes his strings before the month is up! This is because he needs to keep a constant reliable tone-colour for the quartet music he plays, and he probably does about 6 hours playing a day. A beginner/intermediate player, on the other hand, could expect to get a year’s wear out of a set of strings - provided they’re not cheap rubbish to start with.
A point to remember when replacing strings is that new strings take a few days to settle in, the tone taking a while to develop and mature. In particular, Dominants tend to sound bright and metallic for the first few days, but soon they settle in and become mellow.
It’s also important to note that each fiddle has a different charcter to its sound. While we can make suggestions, what sounds good on my fiddle might sound pretty bad on yours and vice versa. My fiddle teacher, for example, was really enjoying having Pirastro Synoxas on his instrument a couple of years ago. When I tried them on mine, the strings made the fiddle sound weak, tinny, and nasal. Ultimately, you’ll want to try out different strings over time and tailor your string choice to enhance the sound of your particular instrument.
Agreed, jasonb 1985-- with a bit of sampling and comparing, you can find strings that bring out whatever qualities your fiddle (and your technique) may have in them. And the fun factor lies for a few fiddlers, it would seem, in living in perpetual agony over the search for their Holy Grail.
Share this, I have no idea how common the phenomenon is:
I knew one fiddler who was mixing his strings, ie. using E ’s and A’s from one brand and D’s and G’s from another. He had found that no brand of fiddle strings had all the specific virtues for all of his instruments idiosynchrasies, therefore he need the proper strings gathered from several different makers, all combined in precise combinations on each of his fiddles according to their special needs.
He was a very happy fiddler.
Cheers.
I generally don’t mix fiddle strings - with one exception. If I find an E-string that really does the business (as with the Vision Titanium E strings I’m currently using on my fiddles) then I’ll stick with it no matter what the other strings are.
Many classical musicians mix strings to best suit their instrument, which may have a very different character in the lower register than in the higher register. In my case I have never felt particularly compelled to mix and match. I do believe though that Thomastik sells a mixed set for violin. sharmusic.com has a decent catalogue.
And why can you buy strings in America at half the price than here in the UK ?
I am a beginner and have only been playing a couple of months (cheapo Chinese fiddle, Dominant stings). Being fanatical about my new passion, I practice about an hour and a half to two hours every day, but in the past day or so the strings have gone all ‘hissy’. I have never really cleaned them - didn’t know you should - and they probably had a build-up of rosin on them. So today I gave them a rub with alchohol on a cloth which seemed to get the rosin off but they are quite rough to the touch now where the bow goes over them. Have I ruined them through neglect or are they capable of rescue?
The chances are that you’re over-rosining your bow - the majority of players I’ve seen do it, not only in sessions but in classical orchestras as well - it becomes a habit with them. You don’t need more than a couple of swipes of the rosin cake on the bow for a 2-hour practice or for an evening’s session. If you do find it necessary to rosin the bow frequently for the hair to get grip then the bow needs rehairing.
The surface of a string, especially the three lower ones, will roughen a little in the bow contact area, even if they are cleaned after use. It’s normal wear and tear, and is nothing to worry about. The left hand fingers will also cause wear on the strings for the same reason, so clean the strings up at that end with a separate piece of cloth to remove sweat etc.
If your finger nails contact the string this will shorten the string’s life because the winding will be damaged and start to fray and loosen - you’ll know this when the string suddenly completely loses its tone. Remedy: keep finger nails short. A high action, which makes you press harder on the strings, will also shorten string life.
Other areas away from the bow and fingerboard regions where a string can break or deteriorate are on the bridge, on the groove at the nut, and within the peg box. For the first two, make sure that the grooves are really smooth (a luthier might have to do it for you) and rub soft pencil graphite into them to allow the string to move smoothly when tuning. Within the peg box a problem can arise, possibly causing a breakage, if the string winding jams up against the inside of the peg box. The remedy is obviously to leave a small gap between the last winding and the peg box when putting on a new string.
In practice, well looked-after strings will start to lose their tone and response long before they actually break.
Thanks for all that advice, lazyhound. Good to know its normal for the strings to go a bit rough in the bowing area - that means I don’t have to replace them yet. So that’s not why they still sound hissy even after I’ve cleaned the rosin build-up off them. Maybe I’ve acquired a new fault that’s causing it. Must find a teacher!
Preludes are really nice strings. I have them on my practice violin and one of my fiddles. Save your money for a good student bow. Codabow Prodigy is good choice at $300 US. Pay no mind to anyone who says a beginner doesn’t need quality strings. If you can hear the difference you’re already half way to proficiency.
Corelli Crystals are fairly cheap, low tension, and are often used for sweetening up the sound of a budget instrument.