lookin for strings for my antique French violin

[AlixD05]

I just bought one French violin which is about 100 yrs.  The

sound is so warm and sweet (n I can say its too sweet).

 However, G and D strings are too weak.  I've tried

dominant and Evah Pirazzai, both of them can't make the G, C

strings louder.  What strings can improve it?

many thx

ALix

[Stephen Fine]

Try Spirocore. I use them for the low strings on my viola. Very powerful. A lot of grit to the sound.

[Allan Speers]

Alex,

try moving the bridge a few mm towards the bass side.

 Sometimes that can make a subtle difference.

Have you had a good luthier do a full setup?  Things like

soundpost adjustment (position, and perhaps a thinner or thicker

post)  bridge tuning, etc can make a surprising

difference.

If all else fails, try heavy gauge G & D strings, with med or

light A & E. The heavy gauge will "almost

definitely" be louder, (see below)  though you may or may not

like the sound.

note: I have read that some very light & delicate violins react

badly to heavy gauge, and can get "choked" by the extra tension,

but it's worth a try.  I have used heavy gauge on 7 different

violins, most old & light, with no problems.

I only like the sound of them on one instrument, but on all of them

the volume increased.  If the sound doesn't work for you, then

try med gauge G & D with light gauge E & A.

[D_A]

You might try Infeld Blue, although if Dominant didn't do anything, Blues might not work. Dominants work on my violin, but I hate the break in time, and they don't last very well. Blues don't have much of a break in time (or maybe they just don't sound bad during break in), and they sound big and full on my violin. It does have a pretty robust sound of it's own (Evah's and Obbligato's didn't sound particularly full on it).

Duh - I forgot that I am currently using Visions. They pack a punch (more than Blues), and the Vision Titaniums pack even more of a punch (at a price). Went to order strings, and at that point remembered that I haven't used Blues in probably a year and a half.

[matzstudio]

if you tried such "extremes" like Dominants and Evahs and the problem did not change, get the soundpost & bridge properly adjusted first i´d say. getting more punch on the lower strings is mostly a soundpost job.