Best steel strings for the Fiddle

[Fergmaun]

What would be the best steel strings for the fiddle.

I have a French fiddle that belonged to my Grandad (died in the 1970ies ) dates back to 1st or 2nd world war time.

I had the fiddle restored by Rab Cherry in Belfast about July 2002 and have not once since changed the strings.

I have not yet had any lessons on the Fiddle as I play the uilleann pipes more.

Cheers

Fergus

[brewerpaul]

I had steel strings on my fiddle for a while and every time I played it my fingers hurt (despite the fact that they're pretty tough from playing mandolin). I also found them hard to press down enough to get a clear tone.
Last summer I played Martin Milner's fiddle with synthetic strings and it was a piece of cake. I got some on mine and have been as happy as can be.

[JS]

I use synthetic core strings too--Tonicas or Dominants. The sound more mellow and full on my fiddle than the straight steel, and you don't need fine tuners with them (except on the E). But lots of fiddle players prefer steel, especially for cross-tuning--Prims are good.

[Martin Milner]

If you must have Steel strings, Helicore are also well thought of.

When I tried steel strings, I've disliked them for uninteresting and too much volume, and returned to synthetic strings within days.

Dominant strings are a good first choice for synthetic strings.

[Fergmaun]

At present the fiddle has steel strings using the fine tuner to tune the strings after the peg tuner has tighten the strings.

Can you use synthetic strings with the fine tuner.

What Dominant strings synthetic is best to use then.

Cheers

Ferg

[JS]

Ferg --

Thomastik Dominants in medium are what I use most of the time. You can use fine tuners with them, and they do make life easier; it's just less necessary, since they're easier to adjust than the steel strings. I stopped using fine tuners, except on the E, after my bridge broke and one of the fine tuners on the lower strings left a nick in the top of the fiddle. Depends what you're doing--an old-time player, who might be using a couple of different tunings, is going to have an easier time with fine tuners and get better mileage from steel strings.

[Fergmaun]

This is the fiddle I have been talking about.

Cheers

Ferg

[Doug_Tipple]

Thomastic Dominant's (Austria) are probably the most popular violin strings in the world. The core of the string is made from synthetic perlon. There are choices for the metals with which the string is wrapped. Discount price for a set of Dominants is about $30

I like D'Addario strings, made in the USA. For all metal strings go with Helicore (steel, aluminum, titanium, and silver), discount price about $23.

For a string similar to the Thomastic Dominants I like D'Addario "Zyex", which has a core that responds similar to gut. The discount price is about $28. This is what I have on my fiddle.

With regard to fine tuning, I recommend replacing the existing tailpiece with a modern lightweight tailpiece with built-in tuners. Thomastik tailpieces are the best. They are easy on your strings. Discount price is about $36. Lower cost Wittner tailpieces are available for about $20. My personal opinion is that it makes good sense to have fine tuners on every string. Trying to fine tune with friction pegs is ridiculous, in my opinion.

[JS]

Well, this may be too much a matter of personal preference to go on about, but I really do find that perlon core strings have enough flex to make fine tuners unnecessary on the lower three strings if the fiddle has decently fitting pegs. You can fine tune them a bit by pressing down on the string between the nut and the peg to sharp the pitch, or by pulling lightly on the main part of string to go a bit flat. May not matter to anyone else a bit, but I like the looks of a fiddle without all the extra hardware, and I do think there's a risk, however small, of the tuners damaging the top of the instrument in the event of a bridge collapse--the fiddle bridge, that is; in case of other bridges, fine tuners or not won't matter much.

[Doug_Tipple]

Well, this may be too much a matter of personal preference to go on about, but I really do find that perlon core strings have enough flex to make fine tuners unnecessary on the lower three strings if the fiddle has decently fitting pegs. You can fine tune them a bit by pressing down on the string between the nut and the peg to sharp the pitch, or by pulling lightly on the main part of string to go a bit flat. May not matter to anyone else a bit, but I like the looks of a fiddle without all the extra hardware, and I do think there's a risk, however small, of the tuners damaging the top of the instrument in the event of a bridge collapse--the fiddle bridge, that is; in case of other bridges, fine tuners or not won't matter much.

The main reason for a bridge to collapse is because the bridge will become bowed (may crack or flip out of position) if the player does not keep the bridge nearly perpendicular to the top. As you tighten the strings on a fiddle, you need to constantly readjust the position of the bridge. You do this with your fingers while the bridge is under full tension from the strings. Not keeping the bridge in proper adjustment is very common on many folk instruments that I have seen. Also, many of the older fiddles have worn tension pegs, and it isn't very easy to make small adjustments with worn pegs. Rather than to have expensive repairs on the tuning pegs, many players use peg dope to keep the pegs in place and do most of the fine tuning with fine tuners on the tailpiece. Another advantage of the Thomastic metal tailpiece is that their shorter length allows the length of the string to be greater between the bridge and where they connect to the tailpiece. This causes a little more tension on the bridge and greater sound output from the instrument.

[meemtp]

Doug's right for the most part. Couple minor quibbles though. If pegs are worn, they should be refitted instead of just using the tailpiece. This goes a long way for the health of the pegs and pegbox. Also, a plastic or wood tailpiece would be better than a metal one as a metal one will be heavier. More weight= less vibration=less volume. In addition to more volume due to the reduced mass of disposing of add-on fine tuners, a correct afterlength (bridge to tailpiece) will allow more resonance. So, you'll get more tone as well. As far as the synthetic strings go, if your pegs are properly fitted, tuning with them is easy. I use Evah Pirrazi synthetic strings which are actually slightly higher in tension than other synthetics. I can make very tiny adjustments to the tuning with the pegs.

[Doug_Tipple]

Doug's right for the most part. Couple minor quibbles though. If pegs are worn, they should be refitted instead of just using the tailpiece. This goes a long way for the health of the pegs and pegbox. Also, a plastic or wood tailpiece would be better than a metal one as a metal one will be heavier. More weight= less vibration=less volume. In addition to more volume due to the reduced mass of disposing of add-on fine tuners, a correct afterlength (bridge to tailpiece) will allow more resonance. So, you'll get more tone as well. As far as the synthetic strings go, if your pegs are properly fitted, tuning with them is easy. I use Evah Pirrazi synthetic strings which are actually slightly higher in tension than other synthetics. I can make very tiny adjustments to the tuning with the pegs.

Looking at my violin catalogue I see that the discount price for the Evah Pirazzi strings (Pirastro, Germany) mentioned by meemtp is about $52. I have never used these, but I have heard that they are excellent.

The Thomastic tailpiece that I mentioned previously is made from light-weight aluminum alloy. The fine tuning adjusters are built-in (not steel add-on's), and the design of the tailpiece allows for a long string length.

The Wittner low cost tailpieces with built in adjusters, that I also mentioned earlier, come in both a light-weight alloy and an ultra strong, ultra light "space age" synthetic material that is lighter than conventional tailpieces fashioned from ebony or boxwood. The discount price of an Wittner "Ultra" tailpiece is $12.75.

[scooter587]

For a tailpiece with built-in fine tuners, I prefer the Pusch. It's real wood (ebony), and you can get one in either French or Hill style. About $30 USD. The fine tuners are super smooth and have a fairly wide range for tuning. I like having fine tuners for quick adjustments, even possible on the fly (when you have a dotted quarter note on an open string, say).

The problem with add-on fine tuners is that the string doesn't ride on the nut of the tailpiece. This changes the overall string length and the bridge-to-tailpiece distance, which can play havoc with intonation and reduce the resonance of your fiddle. The Pusch built-in tuners take care of these issues.

[meemtp]

Yeah the Evah P.s are fantastic Doug. I've settled on using them exclusively for ITM. I've used the full gamut of synthetics plus Helicores and I like these the best. Very responsive, great tone . Of course, they also compliment my particular fiddle very well. It has a pretty rich, dark tone, so the power and brilliance of the Pirazzis provide the perfect balance. Might be a bit much on some instruments.

I've been getting them for about $49 from quinnviolins.com

[Unseen122]

Back in my Fiddle days I used Thomastik Reds.