Advice~
Orchestral Instruments:
The quality of sound produced from a string instrument depends on many factors including the skill of the musician, the quality of the bow and bow hairs used and the type of rosin as well as the strings selected. There is, naturally, a trade off between the quality (and the amount of money spent) on a set of new strings and the ability of the player to produce a "good" sound.
There is little point in, for example, a child starting to play the violin at school with a set of Pirastro Eudoxa strings as the child will be unable to extract the superior sound quality benefits out of these strings. It would be much better to spend a small amount of money on a set of Astreas or, if affordable, a set of Pirastro Piranitos with a view to upgrading to some Dominants after a few years when the child has taken to the instrument. At this stage an investment in better strings will reap great rewards in terms of the sound produced.Conversely an accomplished performer will only be able to produce the best possible sound with a quality string choice appropriate to the instrument and the style of music etc.
Below we offer some specific suggestions of strings for different instruments.
Guitars:
Guitar strings are supplied in a multitude of gauges (diameter of the string) and tensions (tightness or looseness for a given pitch). It is not a good idea to assume that the string tension the guitar manufacturer selected at the factory is the right tension for you. Nor should you assume that the string type recommended by anyone else will give you the sound that works best for you on your instrument with your own playing style. You should experiment with different string sets to determine what sounds, feels, and plays best for you.
If you are new to guitar playing a good starting point would be a gauge of 9 or 10 (thousanths of an inch diameter of the highest string in the set) for an electric guitar, gauge 11 for an acoustic guitar or medium tension for a classical guitar.
Below we offer some specific suggestions of strings for different instruments.
Some buying suggestions:
Violin | Viola | Cello | Double Bass
Classical Guitar | Acoustic Guitar | Electric Guitar | Bass Guitar
Violin
Astrea: A budget string suitable for beginners. - (up to grade 1/2) [ more ]
Pirastro - Piranito: Pirastro offer the most comprehensive product range available in the industry. The Piranito range offer a low cost steel based string from a quality manufacturer, suitable for the beginner or improving player looking to upgrade from Astrea. - (up to grade 3/4) [ more ]
Thomastik-Infeld - Dominant: These synthetic based strings from another quality manufacturer are highly recommended and a "main-stream" choice amongst intermediate to advanced players. These strings are easy to play and offer a big sound improvement over the Piranitos and Astreas. - (grade 5 onwards) [ more ]
Pirastro - Eudoxa: Super sound quality from these gut based strings. - (higher grades, semi-professional, professional) [ more ]
Pirastro - Obligato: Like the Eudoxa in many respects but manufactured from a synthetic material offering high reliability. - (higher grades, semi-professional, professional) [ more ]
Viola
Astrea: A budget string suitable for beginners. - (up to grade 1/2) [ more ]
Pirastro - Piranito: Pirastro offer the most comprehensive product range available in the industry. The Piranito range offer a low cost steel based string from a quality manufacturer, suitable for the beginner or improving player looking to upgrade from Astrea. - (up to grade 4/5) [ more ]
Thomastik-Infeld - Dominant: These synthetic based strings from another quality manufacturer are highly recommended and a "main-stream" choice amongst intermediate to advanced players. These strings are easy to play and offer a big sound improvement over the Piranitos and Astreas. - (grade 5 onwards) [ more ]
Jarger - A String: Combines well with the Dominant C, G and D strings (often prefered to the Dominant A string. [ more ]
Pirastro - Eudoxa: Super sound quality from these gut based strings. - (higher grades, semi-professional, professional) [ more ]
Pirastro - Obligato: Like the Eudoxa in many respects but manufactured from a synthetic material offering high reliability. - (higher grades, semi-professional, professional) [ more ]
Cello
Jargar: Simply the number 1 choice in Cello strings. [ more ]
Larsen: A popular alternative to Jargar. [ more ]
Thomastik-Infeld - Spirocore: Exceptional performance from the C and G Wolfram strings. (Wolfram is the German word for Tungsten). [ more ]
Double Bass
Pirastro - Original Flexocor: The most popular string choice with bass players. [ more ]
Classical Guitar
D'Addario - Pro Arté: Very popular quality guitar strings made from a silver plated clear nylon core [ more ]
D'Addario - Classic: Student grade strings. [ more ]
Acoustic Guitar
Martin - 80/20 Bronze: Popular high quality strings for daily use. [ more ]
Martin SP - 80/20 Bronze: Ideal high performance strings made using ultra-high quality steel core for high resistance to breakage. [ more ]
D'Addario - Phosphor Bronze Round Wound: Very popular strings using phosphor bronze for long-lasting string tone. The professionals choice. [ more ]
D'Addario - EXP Coated Phosphor Bronze Round Wound: As above with EXP coating to extend the string life by 3-4 times. [ more ]
Electric Guitar
D'Addario - XL Nickel Round Wound: The strings of choice for rock musicians worldwide, known for their distinctive bright sound and excellent intonation. Regular Light gauge is extremely popular. [ more ]
Dean Markley - Nickel Steel: Popular in Light, Regular and Medium gauge. [ more ]
Bass Guitar
D'Addario - XL Nickel Round Wound: XL electric strings are well known for their distinctive bright sound and excellent intonation. [ more ]
~~~822~823~~
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