fiddle string questions

Trad Strings
1

Hi. I’ve never posted in this forum before. Nice, open atmosphere. I love what you’ve all done with the place.

Anyway. My beloved, a beginning fiddle player, is constantly breaking strings, even though she doesn’t play that often. So, a couple questions:

  1. If I were to make a gift of some fiddle strings, what kind would I get/where would I get them? I’m reminded of myself, as a beginning guitar player, trying to put xtra light super slinkys on my Ibanez dreadnought. Don’t want to do anything that stupid to my wife.

  2. Is it normal to break strings this often? She only gets, maybe, a couple hours out of a set before they start to go. What can be done to make them last longer?

Thanks a bunch–I can tune a fiddle, but otherwise I’m way out of my depth here.

Tom

2

It could be the strings but I think it may more likely be there is something sharp on the fiddle, (nut, or rubbing against the pegbox are 2 possibilities)
I almost hate to recommend strings because of the breaking problem. Possibly the most popular strings, both for classical and fiddlers, are ‘Tomastik brand Dominant strings’ but they are at least $30.00, not all that much to pay for violin strings. A less expensive string popular with fiddlers are D’Addario Helicores ( I see they are $23. right now) Also by D’Addario are “Preludes” which are about 12.00.

I might get a set of Preludes and a set of Dominants partly because if you order over $40.00 from Shar music (online) you get free shipping. Then try the Preludes first to scope out the breaking issues. If they still break it really sounds like there’s a sharp place somewhere. …My favorite strings are Dominants; nice for classical as well as fiddling.

3

Violin strings should not be breaking like that if you have the violin setup correctly. If possible, take the violin to someone who understand how to setup a violin. To help troubleshoot the string-breaking problem, it is helpful to find out where the string is breaking. Is is breaking in the peg box, at the nut, at the bridge, or where the string attaches to the tailpiece or string adjuster?

4

I agree with Doug and Miwokhill, if strings are breaking like that, there’s almost certainly something wrong with the violin set up - a sharp edge on the pegs, nut, bridge, or tailpiece, cutting through the string. I haven’t changed my strings for six months - probably about time I did, but I haven’t noticed any degradation yet, and at $30-40 a set, I prefer to wait.

Where the strings are breaking (and is it one particular string all the time, or the whole set?).

If not breaking at the pressure points mentioned above, are they breaking where the left hand fingers press them down to the fingerboard, or maybe where the bow is crossing the strings near the bridge?

If it’s where the fingers touch, maybe your wife has very acidic sweat and it’s corroding the metal, though to do that in 2 hours she must have sweat like Alien Facehugger blood. Is this 2 hours constant playing, or 2 hours spread over several days?

She should wipe the strings down after playing, to remove sweat and rosin dust.

Is it possible you have the strings tightened up too much? That can promote breakage, though as I know you are an experienced musician this doesn’t seem the likely cause.

Regarding brands of strings, they break down into three types - gut, synthetic core and steel core.

Gut strings may sound wonderful, but they cost a bomb. I don’t know anyone who uses them, probably only professional soloists or people with money to burn.

I personally dislike the sound and feel of metal core strings - to my ears they lack overtones and warmth, but golly they’re loud (too loud). I tried Helicores, and didn’t like them (on my fiddle).

That leaves synthetic core, into which the Thomastic Dominants that Miwokhill mentioned come. Dominants are a good and popular string, and tend to be good on any instrument, but may not necessarily bring out the best in your wife’s fiddle. Other options to Dominant, and slightly cheaper, and Corelli Crystal and Pirastro Tonica. I’m trying both and have been happy with them.

I’d also recommend the Kaplan non-whistling e-string, especially for a beginner.

5

Look at this link http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=442427&highlight=#442427 as I had a question about fiddle strings also.

When my French fiddle was restored in Belfast the fiddle maker Rab Cherry put steel strings on (make of strings do not know)

This year I bought online 2 fiddle string sets D’Addario Zyex/Thomastik Dominant medium tension Synthetic Core G Sliver wound, D Aluminium Wound, A Aluminium Wound and E string is Steel Core Aluminium Wound.

My first time to string my fiddle was June '06 with D’Addario Zyex and the A string broke at the fine tuner adjuster

I have my fiddle strung now with Thomastik Dominant medium tension Synthetic Core and prefer the Synthetic Core strings thatn the steel strings.

I am still a beginner and learning from a book/CD

Cheers

Ferg

6

She may also be negeleting to rub pencil graphite in the string notches (bridge and nut) which will exascerbate any setup issues. I agree, this is abnormal. In seven years +, I’ve never broken a string.

7

Irish makers and sellers seem to think everyone who plays ITM wants steel strings, at least in my limited experience.

Interesting story about the Pusch tailpiece Doug. I had considered something like this, can’t remember if it was exactly the same name, but the price put me off. I’ve seen loads of stage performing ITM players with 4 add-on fine tuners on their fiddles, so they don’t seem to care about the extra weight, but I certainly don’t like the look, and use a Wittner, which seems to be the standard in the UK.

StevieJ is right of course, that you have to find the right strings for your fiddle, which can be a tedious and expensive process. Thomastic Dominants are usually good all round, thouhg some don’t like the E string and I’ve used Pirastro Gold E with the rest Dominants before now.

A note on the changing seasons too, strings will go out of tune more when their environment is changing in temperature and humidity, so being able to retune quickly and accurately is important. I usually just need a quick adjustment on the fine tuners, using the pegs only occasionally when the fiddle has really gone out of tune.

8

Just wanted to reiterate what Martin and others have mentioned, and what i failed to, about substituting a different e string especially if you’re going with the Dominant strings. It’s basically a matter of ordering the Dominant strings individually as opposed to the whole set and then substituting the different string for the e. The last time i ordered from Shar I substituted a Goldbrokat high e (brand name, it’s not actually gold in this case). The other ones suggested for the high e are no doubt as good or better too- I think it’s just that the Dominant high e loses it’s tone relatively fast and that may be the reason for the pretty much standard practice of substituting for that string.

The guy who took my order said they’ve had some pretty good feedback on the d’Addario Preludes that I mentioned so I also got a set of those and for 12.00 they are pretty good.

9

Thanks for all the info. I’ll have to ask Sarah where the strings are breaking and if it’s one particular string. In the meantime, it’s good to know this isn’t normal, and should be fixable. I’ll get back to this soon.

Thanks again.

Tom