Thomastik Roby Lakatos strings

[Rue]

Time for new strings! The Thomastik Dominants sounded great. The Zyex sounded great.

But in the spirit of experimentation I want to try something new.

I was going to try the Peter Infelds. ..then I saw the price.

Has anyone tried the Roby Lakatos? I was a little put off by the packaging...but decided I wasn't going to let that be the deciding factor.

They are not cheap either...but not quite as pricey as the PI.

[Carl Stross]

Time for new strings! The Thomastik Dominants sounded great. The Zyex sounded great.

But in the spirit of experimentation I want to try something new.

 

 

Try this : is there a problem with Dominants you hope other strings will not have ? Some specific quality you are looking for ?

[Rue]

No. But I know strings can make a big difference. This just gives me a (somewhat) measured opportunity to see if I can find anything even better.

[Omobono]

Been a while since I shopped around for anything new.

I used to try everything new I saw too but settled into a rut.

Happy with what I got now -  Zyex- and price right too.

only decision now is when to put on a new set.

 

having said that I noted that someone was suggesting trying different gauges to see how the instrument reacts.

[l33tplaya]

I have had good luck with Cantigas.  Priced just a little lower than Dominants (which I disliked, even as a little kid, perhaps because everyone else used them, and/or I did think they sounded muted-less overiones)  I found the Cantigas to be warmer and just a little more brilliant, more like the PI strings.  Others whose opinion I respect liked at least some of the Cantigas, if not the full set (I think everyone uses a different E, including most who use Dominants). 

 

Thomastik has a tone wheel that is very helpful in choosing amongst their strings, and Shar, I think has either a reprint of that (somewhere on their web site) or something similar, perhaps a little more general.  Violinist.com has a very old thread where someone went through in great detail - before PI, I think - attributes of various strings in his hands. I found that review helpful as well.

[vathek]

I recently bought a set of Karneols and think their the best strings I've tried and that includes Doms and Pirazzi.

[Violadamore]

Whatever you have on the lower strings, if you haven't before, try the Lenzner Goldbrokat E.  At the painless price of them, get an 0,26 and an 0,27, try both, and see which gives you the better tone on a particular fiddle.

[Dwight Brown]

Pirastro dude here.  pretty pricey.  I wish they were more like guitar strings instead of a major investment.  In their defense the string makers have been pretty busy giving us lots of good choices and exploiting new technology and material science.  as for back as 45 years ago when I first started buying my own strings, strings have been expensive.  Now it seems like about $125.00 for a set of viola strings and $80.00 or so for violin.  I like Obligatos and a Hill E string for violin.  Evah Pirazzi, and Evah Pirazzi Gold are also good.  There certainly is no "best" string different strings for different instruments, different players, and different kinds of music.  I really like the Hill E strings, they seem to whistle less and go false slower.  I don't think there is anything groundbreaking about them or if they have any real relation to the Hill firm other than the name.  I'd say if if you want to try the strings price probably has very little to do with success. 

 

DLB

[DGV]

I am planning to do a Warchal Amber and Kaplan Amo shootout once I have time to get to it.  Both are supposed to have the richness of gut.

[DR. S]

Life was simpler when there were just Dominats.  I've had some costly experiemnts taht turned otu very badly (Eva Pirazzi viola strings).  i use Dominant on my viola and Dominant or Enfeld Blues on my violin.  Dominant have a definite break in time, but that is their only drawback.  Tried a Larson once, liked teh no break in, but the cost was not worth it over Dominant.   I second the setiment that I wish they were more like guitar strings.  But then Guitars do not have the complex sound and dynamic range of a violin/viola/cello. 

[DGV]

Why are violin strings so much more expensive than guitar strings?  One answer here.

[martin swan]

I recently bought a set of Karneols and think their the best strings I've tried and that includes Doms and Pirazzi.

seconded ....! absolutely unbeatable tonal quality and longevity at any price ....

And that's just not from a fiddle-diddle-twiddler like me, every new customer seems to agree.

I saw Roby Lakotos playing a couple of weeks ago at the Amati exhibition - he was borrowing a Strad from Florian Leonhard, but he insisted on using his own "Roby Lakotos" strings. That's some serious endorsement .....! 

[DGV]

Hmm. Karneols?  From what I read, they are very different from the Amber.  Right now, I'm not entirely happy with the Amber set on my current violin.  Maybe it's the violin problem but what is so good about the Karneol?

[vathek]

I found the Karneols to be very even, easy to play and they have more overtones than dominants but don't sound tinny or over bright and a good full sound.

[rudall]

I saw Roby Lakotos playing a couple of weeks ago at the Amati exhibition - he was borrowing a Strad from Florian Leonhard, but he insisted on using his own "Roby Lakotos" strings. That's some serious endorsement .....! 

 

Unless it was simply in his contract...

 

Andrew

[Rue]

I have taken note of all advice! Thank you! 

 

Not that it helped me.

 

Popped by the music store on my way home.  No Roby Lakatos in stock.

 

Then I was going to cave and go to the Zyex and try a Goldbrokat E.  No Goldbrokat in stock.

 

So...I came home with Thomastik Vision Solo.  Only $90 .

 

I won't put them on until next week...but I'll let anyone interested know if I like them or not.

[David Hart]

I got the Vision Titanium Orchestra to try, had to get from overseas. They were supposed to go on one of mine but ended up on a customer's violin. Nobody here stocks them preferring rather to go with the solo's, on assumption they must be identical. But they are not. The Orchestra version will definitely not stick out like a sore thum in an orchestra (surprised?). The particular set I had took a lot of stretching in over a couple of days. I won't know if this is normal until I try a few, but it certainly needs keeping an eye on. After it stretched in, it seemed to remain stable as you'd expect from Thomastic. However, I did notice that after taking them down (to adjust the bridge) that they then seemed to require stretching in all over again, perhaps not quite as dramatic as the first time. The overall impression was that they were quite responsive - about the same as PI - but on first impression seem quite boomy. I'll be seeing this instrument again in a few weeks so will be interested to see how they play in. 

[DGV]

What about the regular Vision?

[DGV]

I finally couldn't resist pulling out the Amber set and putting on a sample set of D'Addario Kaplan Amo on my honey violin.  WOW!!!!  I'm totally blown away!

 

The Amber set never seemed to break in. (After almost four weeks of playing, the A and D still sounded harsh, metallic, and thin.)  But the Amo set sounded great RIGHT AWAY.  Listen to the attached clip which was recorded after 15 minutes of putting on the new strings.

D'Addario Amo.mp3

[Carl Stross]

I finally couldn't resist pulling out the Amber set and putting on a sample set of D'Addario Kaplan Amo on my honey violin.  WOW!!!!  I'm totally blown away!

 

The Amber set never seemed to break in. (After almost four weeks of playing, the A and D still sounded harsh, metallic, and thin.)  But the Amo set sounded great RIGHT AWAY.  Listen to the attached clip which was recorded after 15 minutes of putting on the new strings.

 

Wow !!! Very nice strings and VERY nice playing ! 

[Peter K-G]

I use to prefer Dominant but ever since Zyex was out on the market they are just number one for me. I have tried Dominant again several times but changed back to Zyex again. Recently I tried Tonica and they worked really well, but after playing for awhile my ears get tired of some tiny irritating high noise, that is not heard at distance. Dominant have another type of "hoarse" noise that I actually like but their biggest problem is that the peak performance window is small. Horrible when they are new, fantastic in the middle and after awhile a little dull.

[jacobsaunders]

Has anyone tried the Roby Lakatos? I was a little put off by the packaging...but decided I wasn't going to let that be the deciding factor.

They are not cheap either...but not quite as pricey as the PI.

If I'm not mistaken, the Hungarian name “Lakatos” translates to “Smith” in English. Mind you, I don't think “Bob Smith” strings would sound any good, would they?

[skiingfiddler]

If I'm not mistaken, the Hungarian name “Lakatos” translates to “Smith” in English.

 

Yes, a specific kind of smith, a lock smith.  "Kovacs" (with accent mark over a) is the hammer and anvil kind of smith.

 

Interesting how common trades of a couple centuries ago are common names in both Hungarian and English, today.  "Tailor" in English is "szabo" (with accent mark over o) in Hungarian.

 

My favorite Hungarian surname for indicating occupation is "Puskas" (with accent mark over a).  "Puska" is Hungarian for "gun" and "puskas" (with accent) would be a "gunner," or so I imagine if you stretch word formation in Hungarian a bit.  Ferenc Puskas was a great soccer player and high scorer, a real gunner, good at hitting the target.

 

Sorry, Rue, for straying this far from topic.

[Rue]

No problem! I always go off on tangents...
 

If I'm not mistaken, the Hungarian name “Lakatos” translates to “Smith” in English. Mind you, I don't think “Bob Smith” strings would sound any good, would they?

No no!  His name is lovely...I don't mind the Muskateer look either...

 

BUT...it's this:

[skiingfiddler]

I'd never heard of Roby Lakatos before this thread.  He's great.  He's obviously got a lot of classical technique he uses in playing his jazz-gypsy mixture of styles.  If jazz is America's uniquely home grown, classical music, then gypsy is Europe's  jazz.

 

One might assume that strings he would endorse would be bright and assertive, maybe something more so than Evahs.  But who knows what the connection is between a string named after a performer and the performer's character and music.  Are the strings metal core like Helicore? (Never mind.  I see that the string package says "synthetic core.")