Joshua Bell Strings??
Hello. I just wondering if anyone knew what strings Joshua Bell has on his violin right now. I know he uses the Evah Pirazzi set, but does he also use a combo of that and the evah gold? Thanks.
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In other words putting Evah Pirazzi strings on your violin is not going to make you sound any more like Joshua Bell, that's just not going to happen.
That being said they are a soloist friendly brand of string in that they are slightly louder and more bright than Dominants, etc. But they are reputed to not last very long, need frequent replacing and cost the bank!!
Thanks, I know that I'm not going to become like Joshua Bell. But I was wondering which strings he has on. I have a set of Evah Pirazzis btw.
How long does a set last you? I put some on my soloist violins, and since I'm not playing them, I wonder how long they are going to last. $80 bucks a pop is a lot.
They last maybe 6 months?
Someone on this forum that played several hours a day was saying 2 months!!
Similar things were said about the durability of Obligato.
Evah Pirazzi are just loud. Listen to Bell playing the swan on youtube, you hear his nice vibrato, but not much tonal colour at all.
Incidentally, I don't really like his playing, but that's because he sounds thin and hollow, which is not because of the strings! (Sorry to all Bell fans!)
David, apologies if I started out derailing your thread, I was just trying to be witty.
Evahs sound quite good on the very few violins I have them on, and I don't consider them lacking in warmth or tonal colour, perhaps that's because of the quality of the violins.
I've swapped my regular Evahs after changing them on the second of February. I held off until they became absolutely unbearable (and that's subjective, obviously), changed them yesterday. Took a little less than 4 months, with an average of 1 1/2 hr practice every day.
I would guess Dominants would last a good 6 months in similar circumstances (without that absolutely unbearable at the end characteristic you're getting with Evahs), I've been using a lot of Tonica, on my cheaper "affordable" instruments, I can't really see them as inferior to Dominant, but I have no idea how long they last compared to Dominants. My supplier right now is selling Tonica for 40% less than Dominants, very tempting offer, and I have no complaints on them.
Tonica were introduced as Pirastro's perlon core alternative to Dominant, they used to be priced similarly, but not anymore. However I hear there's a "New Tonica", not looking forward to that, maybe it will be good, but I think it may be a trick to raise the prices.
If you practice an hour a day you can probably stretch out a set of Evah Pirazzi strings to 6 months.
I always wonder if the string manufacturers hire trolls to come on these web sites and write about how you have to change strings frequently.
By the way, these days the in thing is to mix your sets. Especially the E string. You absolutely can NOT use the E that comes with a set, regardless of how good it is. Everyone in your orchestra will laugh at you. If your E string matches, take a Sharpie marker and color the silk so that it looks like it is a different brand. If anyone asks what it is, tell them it's a Mostaccioli or a Zika or a Trump or something ... okay I'm joking.
Shar now even carries Evah sets that have different E strings. Now I'm not joking.
If you think $80 is a lot for a set of strings, wait until your child takes up the cello.
Evahs or the EP Golds have about 100-150 hours of playing life, I'd say, at optimal sound. They'll continue to sound bearable for months, as they deteriorate relatively slowly, but they'll have lost some of the brilliance that makes them special.
I'm fairly sure that Bell used the EP Gold G string (not sure which winding) for a bit, but the most recent video on youtube from which I could make out the strings showed EP regulars on the bottom 3 with some dark green or black E (could be Goldbrokat heavy, Oliv, Obligato...who knows)
Yeah I think he uses the Golbrokat extra heavy for his E
Lyndon, the New Formula Tonica strings that you've heard about are already here - they were released in 2008. I think prices didn't move.
Thanks, that's good news, so then when I buy from my supplier am I getting New Tonica or Old Tonica?
I'm sure it's the new formula at this point.
His publicist wrote to me to say that:
"Joshua loves and exclusively uses Jargar strings."
With all the money that professional athletes can make from product endorsements, I could see a hugely successful soloist thinking that they might be entitled to a smidgin or two.
I could be totally wrong though. Does anyone know of a performance video where it can be seen (or even strongly suggested) that Bell is actually using Jargars?
Keep in mind though that Jargar now has their recently-released synthetic core "Superior" strings, and the threaded wrapping colors on those strings may not be what we're accustomed to on the Jargar steel-core stings. (I haven't run across any of the Superiors yet.)
So Ms. Niles, Joshua Bell doesn't use the Evah Pirazzi and Goldbrokat E string anymore?
No, I checked Wednesday with his publicist, who checked a second time when I asked, "What kind of Jargars?" He said he uses Jargar Superiors, which are indeed the new kind of Jargars.
I actually have my fiddle strung with them right now, so I can tell you that the wrappings are gold on the peg end and kind of a light royal blue on the tailpiece end.
Ok thanks.
What do you think of the Jargar Superiors, Laurie? And what were you using previously?
So what's your opinion of the new Superiors, Laurie? :-)
I just used the Superiors with a Jargar Forte E the past month for a solo concert with orchestra (Bruch Scottish Fantasy) and also a couple recitals. Coming from a mixed set (Pi G, Dominant D/A, Jarger Forte E) the Superior definitely gave me more body and support.
I would classify them as a dark/deep string that is very clean sounding. So, not having much color or inflection, and not being the easiest to produce nuancing on. Personally I prefer thinner strings (I tend to gravitate toward Thomastik's offerings). Using Vision Titanium Solo and like Pi and Vision Solo quite a bit too.
My take on Jargar Superior is that there are many strings that I would much rather use. I also felt that after less than a month, they were very much dead by my standards.
TLDR: Jargar Superior are a deeper/thicker sounding string that is not very colored and relatively clear sounding. There's not much noise or texture in them. I found they didn't last too long (one month).
For those of your curious on how Joshua sounds with these strings, here is a small montage of him at a Sotheby's event. The vibrant blue color of the Jargars are hard to miss!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6f4I5ZJIjQ
I can see the strings now! Thanks KJ
The main thing to remember is that just because Joshua uses them does not mean they will sound any good at all on your instrument.
Mr. Emmanuel Borowsky
Would you say that over the month you had the Superior Jargar strings in your instrument, you played around 120 hours on them? (i.e. four hours daily aprox.)
Thank you
Cheers...
The main thing to remember is that just because Joshua uses them does not mean they will sound any good at all on your instrument.
To be honest i didn't think he sounded very good on them either in that rather dreadfully put together video.
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May 22, 2016 at 11:09 PM · Considering that Joshua Bell could make his violin sound incredible with just about any decent set of strings, his endorsement of Evahs probably says less about Evahs than how much he is being payed to promote the brand, excuse me if that's slander, but I'm a born skeptic.