Warchal Beast Experimentation

Edited: January 11, 2026, 11:03 PM · I bought a set of "The Beast" strings half-off through Warchal's trial discounts last year, but I had other strings to get through first.

I've been using Passiones with the Amber E for the last six months. The set still sounds good, but I'm also aware that it's not sounding optimal, so I'm changing the strings and sort of liveblogging my impressions.

I started with swapping the E. The Beast E is structurally similar to the Amber E, but it feels higher-tension, judging from the effort to tune it up to pitch, and the slightly greater resistance under the finger. Under the bow it feels and responds much like the Amber E.

The E has a brighter, more cutting sound. The Amber E blends very well with the Passione set (and with the Evah Pirazzi Gold and regular Rondo sets that I usually use on this violin). The Beast's character is notably different, and it instantly stuck out against the Passiones.

Almost 30 minutes after the E was put on, it is settling down to something that isn't as bright. It's not as stark against the Passione E, but it's a very big color break nevertheless, and its quick response makes the Passione A feel sluggish (on a violin that is notably fast-responding).

I did the G string next. So far, it reminds me of the Timber G, whose fuzziness eventually made me dump the whole set in favor of Rondos. However! It has an interesting characteristic, which is that it is very sensitive to the plane of the arm. If I have my right arm level very high, so I'm mostly playing on the string's "left side", the G is very good -- powerful and rich. By tilting my right arm slightly to change the angle of attack, I can draw a range of color from the G. That's not bad, but it requires getting used to, especially since I want the maximum-tilt sound to be my normal G sound. Pleasingly, though, there is no amount of weight or slow bow speed that causes the sound to crack. (My high-G-string C wolf, though, doesn't so much howl as whisper. This string will definitely require attention to the wolf.)

After 15 minutes, the new G seems to be waking up the Passione D and A strings, which have taken on some extra after-ring. The tonal break between the Passione D and the Beast G is very noticeable, though. (But it makes for a great couple of measures for all-G-string Glazunov opening.)

Next up, the D which is okay, I guess? It's bright and metallic, and sounds like a new Dominant silver D but louder. (I like it less than the Timbre D, which was excellent on my violin.) Initially, I can feel the higher tension -- there's noticeably more resistance to the bow to get a note started. By 15 minutes, response is starting to feel less sluggish and more "normal", and the sound is still very bright and clear, and the metal in the sound is smoothing out, but it's still punchier than I am accustomed to hearing this violin's middle register.

Now, finally for the A string. This too is metallic, and a touch nasal. It reminds me of the Evah Pirrazi green A, which once prompted one of my friends to declare, “Sounds like trumpet!” I think I’ll go eat dinner, and come back in an hour, and then see what these sound like.

Replies (3)

Nickie McNichols

January 11, 2026, 9:36 PM · Lydia,
I’ve never heard anyone else mention a different sound playing the left side, VS the middle of a G string. Do you hear something similar on the right side of the E string?

Lydia Leong

January 11, 2026, 9:42 PM · Every time you go further over to the "left" side of the string, the more you're applying a rotational torque to the string. My teacher's analogy for this is "log-rolling" (i.e. lumberjacks birling).

This is most notable (and doable) on the G string, but it matters for other strings as well.

With the Beast strings, it appears that there are slight changes to the middle two strings based on angle, but they're not distinct enough to constitute different colors, in my opinion, nor to worry about the slight and gradual tilts used to control smooth bow changes between strings.

Lydia Leong

January 11, 2026, 10:01 PM · I didn't manage to push the submit button before I left for dinner, so I'm back and re-checking the strings. At this point, the E and the G have been on the violin for three hours, and they're pretty stable. Ditto the D string, on for less time, its character unchanged from where I left it. The A has smoothed out marginally but it's still fairly unstable. (The other strings spent their initial time getting constantly retuned, and the A has just been sitting there for more than 90 minutes, though.)

I'm not sure that the D and A would seem so metallic to me if I hadn't been coming from the warm organic sound of the Passiones. The sound on the D is still beautiful (and I think it seems to be mellowing more towards the Timbre sound that I liked), and I'm hoping that as the A gets played in a bit, its character will become more similar as well.

Clarity really pops on all the strings. The dynamic range is very broad. I can draw a nice range of colors, although all of them are on the bright side. The strings play well with my violin's responsiveness, but exacerbates the challenges I always have with this violin's hair-trigger sensitivities that demand precise control.

Also, these strings really reward sinking deep -- the sound best comes into a big thick ribbon of focused but nuanced power with weight, at least during this initial string-up period. On my violin, they still respond quickly and beautifully with a nice airy orchestral sound when played with less weight, but there's definitely a clear transition border between a "solo sound" and an "orchestral sound" that's unexpectedly stark. But I like the fact that the clarity doesn't lessen, allowing a nice delicate orchestral pianissimo.

I do like the sound and response overall -- I prefer it to my Timbre experience -- and have high hopes for how it will evolve. This is definitely optimized for solo work. Unfortunately, I don't have a concerto performance within the lifetime of these strings. However, I have concertmaster solos, as well as works I'm playing with my chamber-music friends, and I'm ordinarily a player that cares about projection.

My violin doesn't usually like high tension but it seems to be taking these fine without sounding choked. I need a soundpost adjustment, but I needed one before I changed the strings, so I expect these will only sound better once the soundpost is less tight.

My guess is that other people who like Evah Pirazzi Gold (or even the greens), or Warchal's Timbres, or other strings with similar character, will like these. If you've got a weighty Russian bow arm, it'll probably work great with these.

Warchal Beast Experimentation

Replies (3)

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