Helicore Breakage and Fan Tao

[Rick Draganowski]

As you know Don Noon forwarded my tale of woe on Helicore breaking to Fan Tao. Don also sent me a message asking if I could share what is happening with the list. So here is the dialog between myself and Fan Tao.

And Thanks Don for getting involved in my little problems.

Rick Draganowski

(Soli Deo Gloria)

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Fan Tao,

Thank you for your response. I did save the last two broken strings which

happened recently on my violin and I stored them in the last package. It does

have the date stamp. The first one was lost some time ago. The break was

identically located in the pegbox but on my lady friend's violin. I will send

you the two broken ones I have and the package this week.

Thanks again and I hope that the problem is localized to just me. But perhaps

not. I verified that my violin has no mechanical cause that may have

overstressed these strings. The nut groove is correctly made and well lubed.

I live in the wilds of Oregon and we have no local music store so I buy my

strings from JustStrings.com on the internet.

Rick Draganowski

(Soli Deo Gloria)

p.s. I am a loyal customer and use Helicores on both of my violins, my viola,

and my cello and never broken one before in many years. For my needs it is the

perfect string as I am a composer, not a musician, and your Helicores are

perfect for the acoustics of the rooms I use to verify the music I compose on

piano.

----- Original Message -----

From: "Maestronet Forums" <fan.tao@daddario.com>

To: <dragan@harborside.com>

Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 3:22 PM

Subject: Breaking Helicores ( Maestronet Forums )

Rick Draganowski,

Fan Tao has sent you this email from http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php.

Hi Rick,

Don Noon alerted me about your problems with breaking Helicore strings. Do you

have any of the broken strings that you can send me for analysis? Do you still

have the package insert? There is a date code stamped inside. When did you buy

the strings and from whom?

It is hard to identify the cause is without seeing the actual strings. We once

had problems with breaking Helicore cores years ago, and the most common place

for the break was up in pegbox, but we found a supplier of higher quality wire

and have not had that problem since.

Feel free to call or email me if you have more information. The information you

provide is extremely useful to us. I am also happy to send you replacement

strings.

Fan Tao

D'Addario & Company

595 Smith Street

PO Box 290

Farmingdale, NY 11735

631-439-3270

[Anders Buen]

Is Fan Tao aware that his answer would be qoted open on the Maestronet?

[Bacon]

I agree, Fan should know if you are to use his quote, but it is done now and it is a good answer. I wish all strings were dated upon manufacture. One is never sure how ancient one's newly purchased strings are. We can check for corrosion externally, but what of degrading perlon or degrading cores. It is good to hear that Fan admits a company short coming. I have used Helicore in the shop for a variety of instruments and will continue doing so. Never had reports of breakage from my clientele that wasn't from mechanical problems or over tightening. It was good to hear that the problem was addressed with the company, rarely do we have access to an inside man. Thanks Fan for your involvement with the greater violin community.

[Rick Draganowski]

I agree, Fan should know if you are to use his quote, but it is done now and it is a good answer. I wish all strings were dated upon manufacture. One is never sure how ancient one's newly purchased strings are. We can check for corrosion externally, but what of degrading perlon or degrading cores. It is good to hear that Fan admits a company short coming. I have used Helicore in the shop for a variety of instruments and will continue doing so. Never had reports of breakage from my clientele that wasn't from mechanical problems or over tightening. It was good to hear that the problem was addressed with the company, rarely do we have access to an inside man. Thanks Fan for your involvement with the greater violin community.

Fan Tao knows I quoted his reply and has no problems with it. We had a long technical discussion via e-mail yesterday but nothing to put here.

Life is filled with puzzles.

Rick Draganowski

(Soli Deo Gloria)