Dominant Medium Strings
Hi
My new teacher asked me to purchase a set of Dominant strings for my violin. I just came back from the shop and they sold me a set of "Medium" Dominant. What's the difference between "Fne", "Medium" etc ... I'm a beginner so my playing won't be that much (for the moment) ... also my violin is very average (one of those student outfits for $250AUD) ...
Should I have been asked whether I wanted "Medium", "Fine", etc?
xxx Roxie
Replies (8)
Thanks for that. Makes it clearer :)
xxx Roxie
I use a whole set of low tension zyex and they're amazingly loud. I put them on my dark sounding instrument, responds nicely. I'm thinking about trying medium tension though, I've used their hard tension and it was quite powerful, much too powerful for what I'm trying to pull off.
Vernon: The "Zyex" material that D'addario uses is actually pretty tough stuff, which makes their light gauge strings about the same tension as most medium gauge brands. That might explain why the heavy gauge was so overpowering on your violin.
hmm, that makes sense. I haven't tried the hard or medium on this violin yet. I'm curious to find out what I can I use on this instrument. I want to try Pirastro Olive.
Ron, have you tried the medium-gauge Zyex strings since they released the revised formula? I don't think the medium gauge strings feel particularly tense now.
No, I haven't tried the new formulation. Well, not on violin anyhow. My flamenco guitar has a G string made of the same material (called the Pro Arté "composite"), but I haven't played the violin string versions in a long time.
Sorry for the tangent Roxie, you can have your thread back now! :)
hehehe that's ok ... just go ahead and take over :)
no seriously, I love this forum and the manner so many conversations take a life of their own. I learn ALOT this way. My teacher is putting on my new strings tonight so I'll be able to hear for myself the changes and compare. I don't like my current G string and I just tolerate my D. My E is beautiful though.
and no funny comments about the G string.
xxx Roxie
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February 26, 2010 at 04:07 PM ·
Roxie,
Dominant strings come in heavy ("stark"), medium, and light ("weich) gauges. Most violins are fine with medium although most of the violins I've had have responded better with a light-gauge G.
Light-gauge strings have lower tension and respond quicker, but should only be used if needed as they also produce less sound.