Strings - review of Pro Arte?

February 4, 2007 at 10:15 PM · D'Addario Pro Arte is my standard, basic, fall-back string like Dominants are for many. I find them basically like Dominants, but maybe slightly more responsive, more easy to make speak, but not quite as loud. I wouldn't call them "dark"-- I'd say personable: nice characters-- as opposed to Dominants which can seem a little too hard and mechanical to me, like the tennis ball fresh out of the can, except it doesn't break in. I think Pro Arte's give good basic warm all-around sound and performance; dependable, stable, break-in faster than Dominants, good life span, and all that in a domestic and for a little less $$$. I find that all this makes them especially nice to have on electric / amplified instruments. And maybe, having met Norm Pickering and hung out a couple times, and seen all his basement full of luthiery and laboratory gear in action, I just trust D'Addario and the strings he helped engineer for them...

I love D'Addario Helicores on my (cheap) viola! String experiments there are over for now! Helicores are extra supple-feeling for the left hand, and very responsive to bow... perhaps to an extreme, but works for me. Definitely depends on instrument and bowing style.

But, about the Pro Arte's, that's on my idiosyncratic 1929 Seattle Archibald S. Hill violin, with my body and bow and style, so who knows-- Also, I'm being an idiot right now and using "light" guage D'Addario Helicore strings on the violin to try to make up for a basically wrong bridge carving which made sense when I requested it a couple years ago, to go with strings I was using then and won't even talk about now! I'm actually pleased with how my violin and heavy bridge opened up with the light set, although the flimsy e'' was a disaster, and the whole violin is working better now with a medium Hill e'' on top. Of course, really, I should go out and get my bridge fixed and soundpost adjusted, then find the right strings!

Give the Pro Artes a try, the experiment is quite reasonably priced!

February 5, 2007 at 02:25 AM · I worked at a violin shop for several years, and we put Pro Arte strings on all of our student instruments. To me, they have a warmer, fuller sound than Domimant strings. I have never used them on my own violin, however.

Based on an article in Strings magazine, the D’Addario Pro Arte strings ($45–$49) offer a sound that is fairly dark and smooth, making them a useful choice for bright, rough-sounding instruments.

See the link: http://www.stringsmagazine.com/issues/Strings95/coverstory.shtml

August 13, 2013 at 03:58 AM · I JUST put these on my violin last week, and so far I'm really enjoying them. If you want to compare the sound of them to Preludes, you can watch the video I made of the process here: http://youtu.be/iL1BqXys9t4

August 13, 2013 at 04:56 PM · You can get them for under $20 for the entire set:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221151665048?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

August 13, 2013 at 05:15 PM · They are my main strings. I find that they have a nice warm sound which some people might describe as 'dark'. The main reason I use them is that are very stable in extreme weather conditions. I live in the tropics and the summers here are very hot and humid ; the Pro-Artes stay in tune far better than any other string I have tried. They don't mind extreme cold either. I took my violin to China in winter last year and I did not have any tuning problems then either.

I find they last about 12 months and then they need replacing. I buy them from ebay for about $30 per set which is extremely good value.

August 14, 2013 at 04:12 AM · I just changed from my strings from Dominant to ProArte few days back. My instrument is Otto Jos Kiler 55Z. It sounds smoother on my instrument than Dominant string but with smaller volume, and my teacher agrees as well. It is priced less than Dominant too.