Jargar violin strings

October 14, 2014 at 11:26 PM · They're steel strings, and are stiffer and probably usually less resonant and colorful than most classical violin players like for the A, D, and G.

October 15, 2014 at 04:13 AM · Just wondering:

If your G is too coarse and brash, why would you expect a skis steel core string to improve that?

Obligatos are often recommended for toning down a bright instrument. Or a cheaper route may be to try Corelli Crystals.

Or perhaps what's really needed is a luthier to look at your soundpost ?

October 15, 2014 at 09:27 AM · Is your Dominant G really too coarse and brash? Have you checked what it sounds like at a distance?

I went through the Associated Board grades and scraped through the '60s ALCM (Mozart 5 1st movement for first piece) using steel strings like Jargar, but a few weeks before performing the first two movements of the Brahms D minor I changed to high quality gut (Eudoxa, then, mistakenly for my violin, Golden Spiral), because the tone was richer and the sensitivity of the response more satisfactory for what I thought my abilities had become (They're not like that now, I'm afraid, and some Dominants, which came in since then, are mounted, but going back to steel would be an admission that my lack of bow control has become so serious that covering up for it is more important than giving myself a good expressive range).

In your case, if you have the expressive abilities of a Grapelli, I would say avoid steel like the plague (I gather Tertis Model violas are an exception), but if you're a real "scratcher", then maybe Jargar are for you. If the case is somewhere in between, I'd stick to synthetics, but you could try Aricore - I think it was Arthur Grove who told me they were milder than Dominant.

October 16, 2014 at 10:43 AM · Thank you all for responding to my message.

You have given me food for thought. I don't think I'll go for the Jargars. My local luthier knows my fiddle and tells me that the setup is fine. Following the response from John Rokos, I've decided that I'm somewhere between 'Grappelli and Scratcher'. It looks as though it's a choice between Corelli and Obligato (£££) - funds permitting.

Cheers

John Savage

October 16, 2014 at 01:39 PM · The Corelli Cantiga G has been praised as well, and that's an affordable set.

October 17, 2014 at 10:09 AM · Before Perlon appeared, I used Eudoxa for classical music, and Spirocore or Jargar for tangos in a noisy environment. Spirocore need their little rubber ring to filter ot the "buzz" at th start of each note; Jargars have a rounder tone.

But both are very high tension, more than Evahs or Helicores, and they suffocate a responsive instrument.

Good for masking clumsy bowing, though..

October 17, 2014 at 11:28 AM · Jargars are popular with cellists, as are other steel strings. I have a suspicion that steel strings generally work better on that larger instrument than they do on the violin. In fact, my cello is strung with heavy gauge Helicores which seem to last forever, an important consideration given the cost of cello strings.

October 26, 2014 at 02:41 AM · I use Jargar E strings, they've served me well for the past 4 years

October 27, 2014 at 01:19 AM · I use a Jargar G, D and E with a Russian Style A from Warchal and it really brings a lot of depth out of my instrument, which has a generally dark sound anyway. The A provides a nice bridge between the kind of brassy E string and deep, rich lower register. :-)