more on strings

[hanxiao]

since my last post on dominanat and obligato, i have seen some great discussions on strings. some feedback from me, an unqualified person:

1. i think pirazzi has marketed its newer strings much more successfully than the newer generation thomastik. even the packaging of obligato and evah pirrazi are very attractive, invoking emotion. somehow, thomastik gave me the impression that we also have great strings, if you know what you are looking for, come get it. to me, that is not progressive enough in this day and age. apparently some people here have got free samples to try out with obligatos and etc. does thomastik do that? i have seen the rep from thomastik doing a decent job here relating to people, but my advice: give people some free samples to try out. if you are good, you are not afraid to show. if you are better, all the better.

2. i have found in fact my violins all respond better to obligato which makes all of my violins sound more warm, colorful and singing like. evah sounds too rigid to me, also E string feels very sharp on my fingers. i heard j bell uses evah, no wonder i do not particularly like the sound of his presentation.

3. ever had experience of using obligatos on fraction violins? currently we have here a 5 yo using a great, old french 1/4, working on Munuet by Mozart, with dominants. i am so tempted to try obligatos to see if the sound will be more lively and colorful.

4.by the way, got a DVD recently of a recording of a chinese kid by the name of chuanyun li. he plays couple strads and one guaneri on loan, with robert koenig on piano. not sure about his musicianship as yet, but this kid can really, really play. his take on the classical chinese music Ambush on All Sides, usually done by Pipa (chinese guita if you will) is unreal.

[Steve R.]

Well, I just recieved a mixed set of Visions as a sample from Tomastic yesterday, in response to an inquiry about their strings. So they are stepping up to the samples plate. I will be putting them on today and will have my initial impression then.

I am not sure I agree with you regarding the Evah Pirazzi strings. Of course different tastes is why they have differnt strings. I found that though I really like the sound of the Obligatos, they don't respond quickly enough for me on the lower strings, giving me a muddy sound in fast passages. Technique, bow, violin? I'm not sure, however using Evahs for G & D solved it keeping the Obligato A.

On my other instrument I fully agree with you about the beauty of the Obligatos, so I suspect it is the violin, especially as they were both set up most recently by the same Luthier.

[hanxiao]

agree, i feel the evah is more precise, but too precise and brillant for me. i like the feeling with obligato which sounds very juicy with glimpse of brilliance here and there.

good to hear what thomastik is doing with samples. let me give it a try and see what they say.

[Ryno]

So how did you go about contacting Thomastik? Did you just send them a question about their strings and say, "oh, by the way, here's my adress."?

[hanxiao]

i plan to email them and simply ask. there is no greater force than public opinion.

[Steve R.]

I sent an e-mail from the Connoly & Co. website, asking them what strings would be recommended from their line based on what I am using. They replyed and offered the samples asking for my address.

This is actually the same type of response I have recieved from Pirastro.