E string coiling experiment
Hello violinists. I’m a pianist who kind of screws around with the violin. I was checking out new developments in violin technology and I wanted to check out the Warchal Amber E string, but it seems Warchal can't sell it here is a bit distracted because of some dispute with Thomastik, making it difficult to obtain, so I wondered what kind of effect could be achieved by coiling an E string near the bridge where the bow touches it.
So I did this little experiment. It isn’t very scientific. I’m human. I can’t do things exactly the same way twice. Anyway, I took some Dominant E’s (No irony intended; I just happened to have a few) and coiled them around a small screwdriver. At first I just coiled some number of times and later counted 6 in a picture I took.
I put it on and I noticed a few things different. First, overtones seemed much stronger compared to the fundamental. Second, I could not make it whistle.
I made a recording so I could look at spectrum analyses to verify what I hear, first of EFGABCDE and the half-string harmonic, then 10 attempts to make it whistle using the D-G-Bflat-E chord at the beginning of the Bach Chaconne. I couldn't make it whistle at all. Too bad I can't attach the recording here.
Then, I wondered if I could achieve a milder effect by coiling it less. I took another Dominant E and put it on, without coiling it, and made a similar recording. 5/10 whistles.
And then I coiled it 3 times, put it on, and made a similar recording. 0/10 whistles.
Below are the spectrum analyzer graphs (using Voxengo SPAN) I obtained.
No coils, open E:
3 coils, open E:
6 coils, open E:
As you can see, the coiled strings have weaker fundamentals and stronger overtones. Also, the uncoiled E string has a rather linear decrease in amplitude of harmonics after the 5th partial, while the coiled strings have more dips and crests in amplitude as partial number increases.
No coils, stopped F:
3 coils, stopped F:
6 coils, stopped F:
Stopped F's behave similarly to open E's.
No coils, half-string harmonic E:
3 coils, half-string harmonic E:
6 coils, half-string harmonic E:
Same deal with harmonics.
So, all I know now is that coiling a plain steel E string at least 3 times at the playing area near the bridge will eliminate whistling, but will change timbral balance away from the fundamental and toward overtones. Also the overtone amplitudes will be more jaggy.
I'd like to try more things, including simply twisting the string instead of coiling it at a specific place, or just coiling it once, (Hey, why don't you try it?) but I've run out of Dominant E's. I have more E strings on the way, including a gold plated E string that I remember squeaks quite easily: the Obligato gold plated E.
Edit 4/7/2014: I have an Obligato gold plated E! Using this, I made a recording like those above, except this time I wanted to test how well it blends with the A string (Thomastik Dominant), so I played from the open A, ABCDEFGABCDE, and then half-string harmonic E, and then 10 attempts to make it whistle. I got 8/10 whistles with the unmodified string.
BTW I noticed something that happened with both this Obligato E and the Dominant E: Stopping the string sort of equalizes the first few partials. You can see this in the Dominant graphs above. On the open E, the first 5 partials are pretty jaggy and on the stopped F, they're much closer to each other.
Anyway, I tried twisting it (away from the other strings, toward the outside of the violin) once, which got me 5/10 whistles. Then I tried twisting it thrice, which got 2/10. Comparing the graphs of the unmodified E and the thrice twisted E, I think there might be stronger overtones with more twists, but I wasn't really interested in sound quality if it still whistles.
So, I let it untwist itself and coiled it once. 7/10 whistles. Then I coiled it twice. 5/10. No sound analysis.
Once I coiled it thrice, I could hear an obvious difference just plucking it. There is more high frequency material, and I got 0/10 whistles!
Here it is partially tightened.
And here are the graphs.
D on A string:
Unmodified, open E:
3 coils, open E:
Now that's unexpected, kind of. The coiled string has a stronger fundamental, but there is also more stuff between 10000Hz and 20000Hz. Note that the D below it doesn't have a strong fundamental either. The unmodified E would sound more similar to it.
Unmodified, stopped F:
3 coils, stopped F:
That's more like what I'm used to seeing. Stronger overtones, especially between 10000Hz and 20000Hz. Basically this range of frequencies makes it sound airy or shimmery, quite unlike the A string below it.
So as of now, I know that if you coil an Obligato gold E at least 3 times, you'll get no whistling but stronger overtones, especially between 10000Hz and 20000Hz. Because this is so different from the A string, it's probably inappropriate for Dominants. The unmodified E sounds closer, but it will whistle if you do whistle-inducing bow strokes.
I've also got a Goldbrokat E and a Jargar (forte) E, but I'm done for now. Actually if the Jargar doesn't suck I'll probably stop experimenting, since I kind of want to play, and I'll keep the Goldbrokat as backup, since that's been my favorite.
Edit 4/8/2014: I put on the Jargar and found it had too jaggy sounding, and I don't think coiling it would help. So, with only the Goldbrokat left I put it on and I was relieved to have by old favorite on again. It blended with the Dominant A so well.
I was still curious as to what the Amber E sounds like. So, (and I know this is questionable because lots of parameters are different from mine, but ehh) I went to this video, ripped the audio, and analyzed it.
And here's the open E:
Squish squish squish. It seems that a dynamic compressor is applied, as is the default setting on many camcorders, but it still didn't prevent clipping. Also bow strokes are quite irregular. Might confound some things. Anyway, it would appear as if there is a sharp drop off from the 23rd partial, but note that this is a YouTube video, which probably used some sort of lossy audio codec. Lossy audio codecs often have a high cut around 16000Hz. In order to verify that, all you have to do is look at the next note.
Amber E, F-sharp:
This time there's a drop off from the 21st partial. If that weren't enough evidence, here's the harmonic E:
Amber E, half-string harmonic E:
This time the 12th partial gets cut off.
Therefore, I think there should actually be a lot of energy up there, but we don't see it, because in order to register on a codec that usually cuts off everything (as in completely silence it) above 16000Hz, it has to be quite strong. If I were to guess just from this, I'd say the Amber E is probably inappropriate for Dominants, but I'd have to try it to be sure. Anyone want to send me one? ;)
Edit 4/21/2014: I have a Warchal Amber E.
...and I just realized I didn't post graphs for Goldbrokat.
Goldbrokat, open E:
Goldbrokat, stopped F:
As advertised, it is very difficult to get the Amber E to whistle. Using the same test from before, I could only get 1/10 some of the time, so on average it should be less than 1/10 but more than 0. As for sound, I hear more high-frequency material than Goldbrokat. It doesn't seem to mix well with Dominants, but better than the strings I coiled myself. Because the environment has changed, I give you D on A again.
D on A string:
This looks similar enough to the previous graphs that I think I can compare the following graphs with the previous graphs also.
Amber E, open E:
Amber E, stopped F:
At first I had a hard time seeing the difference between this and Goldbrokat, but there there is definitely more energy in high partials in the Amber E. It doesn't sound like a bad E string actually, and if the other strings were brighter, it might mix well while being quite difficult to whistle.
And how I've got a bunch of E strings I don't need. If you want the lot, message me.
Replies (9)
I'd really doubt it...it's your property and you're not hurting anyone.
I doubt Warchal is simply winding their strings around a screwdriver to achieve their product. Too much variation in output. :P
My observation is that when an E string wistles, more often than not it's because it's too hard for the instrument. By changing it to a lighter one the whistle disappears.
Wonder who's gonna take the plunge and start coiling those PI platinum Es...
PI platinum E's don't wistle. I put on one last night and it's great. The bad thing about them is the price, but I hear they will outlast the violin.
It seems like a weird solution to a problem that has already been solved. Just use a wound Dominant.
Sounds good and lasts long.
I would like just to correct “Warchal can`t sell there“. In fact, Warchal can, since there is no any injunction saying that we would violate any patent. Moreover we have the expert opinion saying that our invention is not in collision in mentioned patent.
We just decided not to sell to USA and Austria temporarily in order avoiding to be bullied by one of our competitors. Just now, in the situation when we are not able to satisfy the demand by our production capacity, any court trial could be distracting for us. Instead of paying lawyers, we decided to keep cooperating mainly with best acoustic experts, machinery specialists and so. Maybe we will renew the sale later.
If you decided to change any competitive string according to my latest invention, I will not mind it. Despite the patent application I have submitted I would like to emphasize that I am a violinist and I have invented the spiral E for you, violinists. Hearing that you like it is much more important for me than any business. In fact, it seems to be a shame for the other string manufacturers, that their products need to be finished at home.
If you decide to do so, just make sure that the particular steel is able to survive shaping without any significant tensile strength drop and especially make sure that you shape the spiral so, that if it breaks, the spiral (with extra accumulated energy) does not catapult towards you, but the other way around.
BTW, we learned that Amber E is available in the USA. Although we do not export directly, many merchants decided to stand up for us and they order it from other countries. We are currently working on further development of the invention. Thank you for all you support we receive daily.
John,
When the string is tightened, I can't tell by looking that it's been modified. I can feel some waviness in high positions. Writing to Thomastik et al. is meaningless. They likely already know everything I found here and are aware of the competition. The copper winding on piano bass strings and the whatever winding on the GDA violin strings has a totally different purpose from the coiled E strings: to add mass, so that strings can vibrate more slowly without getting too loose or too long. You don't follow my logic? Hmm...problem. Don't feel like solving it.
Scott,
Wound E strings tend to lack projection.
Bohdan,
Thanks for being a good sport. I don't think I'm "finishing" their strings though. They sound inappropriate when I coil them. I haven't modified the one I actually intend to use, and it still whistles, which is really not a big problem since I don't do that kind of bow stroke...unless I want to. Still, non-whistling strings are good, all else being equal. I've got an Amber E on the way; hope it doesn't suck. As for safety (which you've obviously thought about this than me) I think if things break it will be at the coils or fine tuner, so most of the string will be pulled toward the nut.
And no, in case anybody likes to read things that aren't there, I don't think Warchal coils their strings around screwdrivers.
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April 7, 2014 at 04:01 PM · Is it a patent infringement to modify your own strings (i.e.-not for sale) per an intellectually protected process?