Thomastik "Rondo" Strings

[germain]

Do any of you have any experience with the above strings? I understand they are luthier shop only so not easily available to players. Curious to hear opinions on them and possibly give them a try if I can buy a set from somewhere. 

[Michael Darnton]

Best string ever. It's the only string our shop sells. I think they add 25% of expensive sound to anything you put them on, and as far as I know, virtually no customer who's tried them has gone back to what they were using before.. The E string is a bit light and sometimes harsh, so we might use a Gold Brokat .26 or the Dominant tin-plated carbon steel, depending.

In NYC Rare Violins of NY has them.

Some people say they are just Dominants, but they definitely are not!

[Jeffrey Holmes]

ditto (mostly)...  though I also like PIs on some fiddles and I usually use Hill Es. I was able to experiment with a few of the different versions of the Rondos as they were being developed.  I think Thomastik did a bang up job.

[The Violin Beautiful]

Also a fan of the Rondos. They have a robust and complex sound. I’ve been using them and the TI strings quite a lot lately.

[Nick Allen]

At the last shop I worked at, we put them on everything we sold, with a few outliers. Excellent strings. Our most bought string by a far margin. Quite a few PSO players switched to them and loved them. 

[Violinjon]

Oddly enough you can buy them online (along with TI) at the new official web shop.

https://shop.thomastik-infeld.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=+Rondo+violin

Good strings, overall character is something like Dominants but juiced up and with better and faster break in. The tension noticeably higher than Dominant, my violin was choked by the high tension D (which is silver - I get the same with almost every high tension silver D). Wish they had an aluminum option, like the TIs and PIs do, as my violin always gets along with those.

I have a colleague whose violin I thought would be a good match for Rondo and he likes them a lot, although he preferred (without being fed opinons from me!) the TI aluminium D string, so he's mixing the sets.

[baroquecello]

The cello version is so terribly expensive that I'm loathe to try them out...

[Potter]

Just posted on another thread that my 12 year old likes them. We use a PI platinum E, which is silly expensive, but the whole sets are reasonably priced. The E for reasons someone else will need to explain seemed to open up the entire violin. We buy them from our luthier, glad to give them the business.

[Michael Darnton]

7 hours ago, baroquecello said:

The cello version is so terribly expensive that I'm loathe to try them out...

Brannon Cho uses them, and his recent recordings (youtube is a good source, I think) are reasonably what you can expect--brighter without harshness, a little more texture, some loss of dark depth. When we tried them we found the set very well balanced (no need for a mixed set) but not as radically different as the violin sets. 

[Rue]

4 hours ago, Potter said:

Just posted on another thread that my 12 year old likes them. We use a PI platinum E, which is silly expensive, but the whole sets are reasonably priced. The E for reasons someone else will need to explain seemed to open up the entire violin. We buy them from our luthier, glad to give them the business.

The variation in sound and perception of sound between strings and different violins is quite astonishing.  Even the same set of strings on the same violin can sound differently.

The PIs work well on my violin, and I loved the fact that the platinum PI E didn't whistle or fail on open E.  My current set of PIs?  The platinum E is a problem. 

[germain]

I've always used PI or Evah Gold. I prefer the second to be honest but PI last forever and they are very very close. Glad to hear people like the "Rondo" strings. I'll have to give them a try...

[deans]

It seems to me that we have been having string revolutions every few years. Evahs seemed to have swept through like wild fire. I think most of the newer strings do their thing with higher tension (than Dominants), give more pop, great for selling instruments, but after a while many fall back to Dominants or similar. I'll probably give them a try though.

 

[Daviolin]

So many strings on the market and you want the Luthier ones... 

I'm sure Thomastik have other strings very similar to Rondos and I don't believe they're better than PIs.

[Daviolin]

9 hours ago, Violinjon said:

Oddly enough you can buy them online (along with TI) at the new official web shop.

https://shop.thomastik-infeld.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=+Rondo+violin

Good strings, overall character is something like Dominants but juiced up and with better and faster break in. The tension noticeably higher than Dominant

You're basically describing the Vision line of strings 

[Michael Darnton]

They don't sound like Visions!

By the way, they last a ridiculously long time.

[Shunyata]

Pirasto Evah Gold consistently sounds good on any instrument I put them on.  

Recently I have been using Vision strings... I think they have a more complex, sophisticated sound texture.  But the E strings are sometimes a bit squirrelly - inconsistent performance from one pack to the next.

I only used Peter Infeld once.  Was horrible on that particular violin.  The violin is "weak but sweet" with good resonance.  Infelds completely killed the sound on that violin, like playing in a blanket.

[Michael K.]

Can only speak from my new Violins. I tried Rondo, but still Warchal Amber is on top.

[MANFIO]

Almost the new strings I have tried in the last 10 years are just too bright sounding.... I see there are no RONDO strings for violas!

[mbrancalion]

€108.56 for a set? ..........

[MANFIO]

Just now, mbrancalion said:

€108.56 for a set? ..........

And the Dollar now is weak in relation to the Euro...

[Daviolin]

14 hours ago, Michael Darnton said:

They don't sound like Visions!

By the way, they last a ridiculously long time.

Which ones? 

Have you tried them all?

 

Most of Thomastik's "higher end" strings have long durability, Visions, PIs...

[Michael Darnton]

A big shop, we see a lot of strings on different violins and get to hear what the customers think about the change. As I said, hardly anyone goes back. Have you tried Rondos?

[Bodacious Cowboy]

4 hours ago, Michael K. said:

Can only speak from my new Violins. I tried Rondo, but still Warchal Amber is on top.

Have you tried the Warchal Timbre, Michael?

[Michael Darnton]

I have seen them on violins and liked them but have not seen Rondos on the same violins for direct comparison.

[Richf]

Michael, a quick look at the Thomastik website shows two variations of the Rondo A strings -- carbon steel core chrome wound (more expensive) and synthetic core aluminum wound.  So far, there seems to be only a single option for the E, D, and G.  Which A string are you choosing?

Also, I see there are Rondos for cello.  Any opinions on those that you can share?  

Richard