Brad Dorsey Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 Are there fake Dominant violin strings around? Are fake Dominants any good? I ask because I am looking at some purported Dominants that have tailpiece-end thread windings that have somewhat different lengths and colors than some other strings that I believe to be Dominants. The packaging (string envelopes and box) appears to by the same as regular Dominant packaging, except that, oddly, the box is flat and it appears to have never been unflattened by creasing it along its corners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Roop Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 I am sure Thomastik should be able to tell you how to identify fakes... info@thomastik-infeld.com And these....At $34.99/set and under $3 shipping... are they real? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2251832682576130.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.1f3e2fd5q5awmn&algo_pvid=c197536d-43ce-4d57-9ddb-002bc39fb8e8&algo_exp_id=c197536d-43ce-4d57-9ddb-002bc39fb8e8-0&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"66233400688"}&pdp_npi=2%40dis!CAD!!46.11!!!!!%402101e9d516543127745131106e61c4!66233400688!sea&gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Violin Beautiful Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 Yes, there are fake Dominants out there. All of the sets I’ve encountered have been very poor quality and have been easy to identify as fakes. They show up on a lot of factory Chinese violins, and there are sets being sold on Amazon. Several years ago the owner of one of the wholesale companies told me that there were better knockoff string manufacturers in China who would be happy to imitate the silk colors of any set of strings one wanted. His company had sets of these imitation Dominants made, but he chose silk colors that were completely different and gave the set a different name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Bean Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 My importer told me that there are "investors" (with too much money) out there that buy Dominants (and maybe other popular brands) in large batches wholesale or off factory and sell them on Ebay (and other platforms as well) with only a small markup to end-users. Even with a small profit it will get them a better result than bank or stocks nowadays. They do not care about our violin trade: in fact they spoil it for violin makers with a drawer of strings in their workshops!. So it is not necessarily fake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Roop Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 7 hours ago, Mr. Bean said: My importer told me that there are "investors" (with too much money) out there that buy Dominants (and maybe other popular brands) in large batches wholesale or off factory and sell them on Ebay (and other platforms as well) with only a small markup to end-users. Even with a small profit it will get them a better result than bank or stocks nowadays. They do not care about our violin trade: in fact they spoil it for violin makers with a drawer of strings in their workshops!. So it is not necessarily fake. If these investors have too much money, why would they revert to a low profit business that includes extra work to store, pack and ship?? I think that is unlikely. ...maybe just another conspiracy theory to justify the fake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane88 Posted June 4, 2022 Report Share Posted June 4, 2022 I have encountered fake Dominants and fake Tonicas, both purchased from/through Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Dorsey Posted June 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2022 In this picture, the suspected counterfeit is on the bottom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Bean Posted June 5, 2022 Report Share Posted June 5, 2022 9 hours ago, Mat Roop said: If these investors have too much money, why would they revert to a low profit business that includes extra work to store, pack and ship?? I think that is unlikely. ...maybe just another conspiracy theory to justify the fake. My source has various connections in manufacturing and trade, among them the major string companies. Storing strings does not require large warehouses, shipping and packing can be outsourced to lower wages areas. Of course there are fake Dominants (never seen them though) and fake Tonicas (seen several times offered on the local marketplace platform here) but I am sure not every attractive strings-offer is fake neccessarily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Dorsey Posted June 5, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2022 Mr. Bean: I assume that the genuine strings that your source says are sometimes sold cheaply would have the same thread wrappings as the regular production. And since the G string shown in my picture has a different wrapping, it is a fake. What do you think? The balls show different colors in my picture, but that appears to be an artifact of the photography, because the colors look the same when they are in front of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeH Posted June 5, 2022 Report Share Posted June 5, 2022 There are U.S. sellers on eBay who buy authentic individual strings in bulk and then sell them in sets in plastic bags. These are genuine strings. @Brad Dorsey's string is not authentic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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