Stark..Mittel...Weich....Ich nicht verstehe! (I don't understand!)

March 4, 2005 at 07:06 AM · It refers to the string thickness. I wouldn't go for stark strings, because the time I tried them they were so high in tension that my bridge broke in half after a few days of having them on. Also, the lighter strings are perhaps easier to play on, but the sound isn't as great, generally. If I were you, I'd probably stick with the medium...

March 4, 2005 at 07:38 AM · For the record, it's "Ich verstehe nict." :-) My vote's also "mit der Mittelstreiche." You get the boldness of the thick and the manuverablility of the thin.

March 4, 2005 at 03:01 PM · I've also never gotten anything other than medium and never had reason to regret this. Someone told me that if you have an old, somewhat weak instrument you might want light so as to lessen the pressure on the body a bit, but I suspect this might only be an issue if you have known repaired damage or something like that.

March 4, 2005 at 09:46 PM · I'm certainly no expert but I have experienced on my Sylvestre that somcetimes a different guage will vastly improve a string. I tried Vision strings and didn't like them at all at first because they sounded very metallic. The Vision rep. suggested I try a heavy set and the improvement was significant.

I also know that the guage of the e string will really change the sound especially high up.

March 7, 2005 at 12:53 AM · I am using stark dominants right now which means something like strong in German and they sound alot louder and richer that mittel which I used to use.