gut strings

  1. billkilpatrick
    i've got dominant medium strings on my fiddle at the moment - very happy with them but not sure how "early" they sound. could anyone familiar with gut recommend a synthetic set more "gutty-er" in tone?
  2. farmerjones
    farmerjones
    Ropecores or perlons, maybe.
    They say Evahs are the ultimate, but no way i could afford them.
  3. Mandoviol
    Mandoviol
    I've always wanted to try gut strings, but living in Virginia, the constant temperature and humidity changes would play hell with them.
  4. billkilpatrick
    consensus on various violin sites say obligatos are closest to gut tonality - haven't even looked yet to see how much they cost.
  5. Margriet
    Margriet
    I use gut strings, there are plain ones and wounded ones and there are different makers. The plain ones come with a big length, you can use one for two strings.
    Obligato I also had... it has a strong sound, I think not special gutty. Pirastro has more gut- and gut-like strings, like olive, eudoxa, gold... Semi-gut, that sounds gutty, are Sensicore, super-sensitive, not yet € 50 a set ( I think imported from USA). I have had them for viola and they were OK. You can try also Lenzner supersolo (about € 36 a set). They are gut, but some are metal. I had them also for viola, liked them, except the highest one, it was made of metal and i did not like the contrast, so I bought a single gut one. You must try, every instrument is a bit different. There is a lot of difference in price, buit also in quality. I have had bad experience with Pyramid syntha-core, they had not enough tension. Gut is nice, but it asks more attention to play, to bring a good sound, the synthetic strings are easier. If you want to know more, just ask....
    Margriet
  6. Tom Wright
    Tom Wright
    If making sausage and legislation ain't pretty, I wonder what making sheepgut strings looks like? Supposedly nylon guitar strings were necessary because all the usable gut was needed for sutures in WWII. I don't notice many classical guitar players using gut now.

    I stopped using metal-wound gut long ago, sticking with the synthetics. Plain lasts just long enough to break before it unravels. The wound strings are fine, but few professionals use them. Too sensitive to humidity changes, and not enough better than nylon-fiber-core. The sound is only trivially different. Cost is lower for synthetics; at one time a Pirastro Olive G for viola was $80 US, back in the early 80s. (Lots of gold in the winding alloy, which is mostly silver.)
  7. Jim Garber
    Jim Garber
    Missed this discussion. Ropecore BTW are metal core strings: "Numerous chrome steel strands are bonded into a cable to form the central core, 1st E aluminum wound, 2nd A chrome wound, 3rd D chrome wound, 4th G chrome wound"

    I use Aricore which are Pirastro's equiv to Dominants. I think Dominants are just fine in general. I have never played gut and prob would not do so because of the tuning problems. I also play in cross-tuning often and that would wreak havoc with gut strings I would think.

    I would love to try a fiddle set up with them but frankly I think they are more trouble than they are worth. I did want to try a set of Evahs but they are pretty up there in price.

    Jim
  8. billkilpatrick
    a few months on and i'm pretty happy with dominant strings.
  9. dlaurance
    dlaurance
    I grew up with Pirastro gut strings on my viola, and tried Dominant when they first came out. I went back and forth for years - the gut gave me a sweeter sound, particularly in the low register, but a set lasted a couple of months at the longest before they sounded dull. I always think about it this way: the gut string is much nicer for the first two weeks, and then it's about the same as the perlon for the next two to four weeks. After that, the perlon still sounds pretty good, and the gut goes dull.

    As for an "early" sound, Pirastro gut don't sound particularly "early" to me. Classical, maybe, and certainly the best quality sound I can get out of my violin (when they're new).

    So it depends on how often you want to change your strings. If I were a pro, I might budget to change every two weeks, or maybe every major concert. But I'm not pro, and I often don't get paid at all for a gig, so the Dominant looks like a pretty good choice.

    I've tried the Infeld Red and Blue, and I can see that they're more consistent and brighter than the Dominant, but I like the Dominants better on my particular fiddle. I still try other perlon strings from time to time, but I've gotten over the gut thing.

    David
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