| Author |
Comment |
Sasha
A M
Registered
User
Posts: 59
(8/21/01 2:59:22
am)
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|
who uses
synthetic strings?!
hello!
i had to return "my french cello" to the
conservatory, and now i have to use a roth, which has a very loud
tone, but lacks nobility...
im planning to try gut and
synthetic, so that the sound would not be so penetrating. but i dont
know anything about synthetic strings.
what brands have you
used, and what are your experiences? esp i would like to hear from
those who really use them all the time.
thanks,
sasha
|
Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
Posts: 388
(8/23/01 9:55:51
am)
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|
Re: who uses
synthetic strings?!
Try writing directly to Ellen Gunst at
http://www.cellos2go.com/
(that will give you her e-mail address) - perhaps she has already
responded to you privately.
My experience with cello strings
has been limited pretty much to gut before 1960 and steel since
then. As I recall, gut could have a "haunting" sound on a fine
cello, but one had to work the bow harder - and as a beginner could
get some bad habits going.
Pirastro Obligatos have been the
only synthetic-core strings I've tried and I found them too
dependent on the particular cello to make a
recomendation.
The steel strings cover such a wide range of
tonal characteristics that I've been able to satisfy myslef with
them. But sometimes the choices are not obvious, and a knowledgeable
professional luthier or dealer might be the one to
help.
After many choices, my own new (Jay-Haide) Chinese
cello is best with Larsen medium A, and strong D, and Spirocore
Tungsten G and C. But another cello is best strung differently - for
example with the Spirocore SIlver G and C. But I MUST also add, that
the choice of bow I chose to play with makes every bit as much
difference as the string choice - and in fact seems to dominate the
way the strings sound and respond. So - before you start "dressing
and undressing" your cello get to a good violin shop (if you can)
and try bows over a wide price range, because that could be your
problem.
It is just too expensive to try all the various
different string brands - unless you can just borrow them for a
while.
If you have not done so, you might try searching these
postings using the names of different brands of synthetic strings,
such as "Dominant" and see what turns up.
Andy
|
ruthann
Registered
User
Posts: 555
(8/23/01 10:45:59
am)
Reply
|
Re: who uses
synthetic strings?!
Okay, I'll add my two cents. Like Andy, I used to use gut strings
exclusively, first bare gut, then gut wrapped with metal.
I
first went over to synthetics because of some quality control issues
with my favorite strings - three As in a row all had a kink in the
same place. I switched to the Pirastro Aricores, which I was quite
happy with.
I had always assumed that my cello was quite
loud, since my fellow quartet cellists often pointed that out. But
we got to trying out each other's cello and I was still louder than
anyone. My point is that one can still play loud with synthetics, or
at least I can!
The synthetics are supposed to give a
"softer" sound and the string itself has a softer feel. I have my
students put on Tomastik Dominants. They are relatively inexpensive,
good quality strings with a softer feel but the ability to produce a
good fortissimo.
For myself, I use the new Pirastro
Obligatos. On my cello they produce a big, fat, round tone, full of
harmonics/overtones. They are quite a bit more expensive than the
dominants.
I'd recommend the dominants. If you do try some
gut strings, make sure the place you get them from does a fair
amount of trade in them. They can get brittle just sitting on a
shelf. A large mail order place like Shar is bound to have fresh
strings.
Good luck!
cello_suttonr@hotmail.com |
CelloBass
Registered User
Posts: 68
(8/24/01 4:13:56 pm)
Reply
|
Re: who uses
synthetic strings?!
Sasha,
in case synthetic strings don't work as expected on
your cello, or in case you want to give another steel string a try
before switching to synthetic/gut, you could try Prim strings.
Especially the soft version of the D string plays very soft compared
to other steel strings, and it adds some nice overtones to the
sound. They are cheap. And if you like it, you could try the other
lower Prim stings as well. The soft versions... it is difficult to
express... they shift the energy from a too loud fundamental up to a
higher level of overtones, they speak easy and they make new and
harsh sounding cellos sounding more complex, more interesting. You
could say that they are just the opposite of the new high-tech
strings like Spirocore Tungsten, whose sound cuts like a knife when
put on new bright cellos. I haven't tried the Prim A yet, but I will
try it as soon as possible. The first cello I bought is a cheap new
chinese cello that had the same problems as your Roth has. I took it
to my luthier who is a cellist and asked him to try what strings
would sound best on this cello. It came back with Prim strings and
had completely turned into a nice sounding instrument, no harshness
anymore. I asked my luthier whether or not I should try synthetic
strings, but he said that I shouldn't try them. He said the new
cellos normally lack of power in the lower registers, and synthetic
strings would even worsen this situation. With synthetic strings
they would sound mellow, but weak. But, however, this is perhaps the
case on my cello, but your cello might react differently. If I only
could express myself better in English... 
Horst
|
Sasha
A M
Registered
User
Posts: 60
(8/27/01 2:24:42
pm)
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|
...but what
about plain gut in modern cello?!?
hello!
thanks for your replies! i had previously prim a-d,
jargar g-c in the roth, but the prims dont sound good on this cello.
prim c-g-d sounded excellent in the expensive french cello i
used.
i havent had time to try synthetics yet, because my
teacher gave me a bunch of his old gut strings (and some new),
because he has changed to metals last spring. he is 73 year old and
thinks that guts are more difficult to play, so now is his time to
"take it easy"...
it was really a bunch, so i dont know which
strings are "too old" and which are almost unused. how does age
effect gut strings? how do i know its old and rotten and not new and
unsettled?
there was also some plain gut strings. i put and d
on, and felt like playing baroque cello (which i really seldom do),
little clumsy and awkward. my friend told that when she studied
cello in estonia, the only gut strings in local shop were plain gut.
she choose no to use them, but i would like to know, does someone
REALLY string his/her modern cello with plain gut? isserlis is using
gut, but not plain gut. is there any professionals out there, or
anywhere, who uses plain???
sasha
|
TerryM
Registered
User
Posts: 527
(8/27/01 6:48:29
pm)
Reply
|
Re: ...but what
about plain gut in modern cello?!?
Pieter Wispelwey uses gut strings on several of his cellos. I would
not exactly call them modern as I know from his CDs that he uses a
mid 19th century cello, but modern tuning. It sounds quite lovely
being warmer and more complex in harmonics, but not a sound for
everyone. I also have several recordings by Achibudelli and Anner
Bylsma is the cellist with this group. All the players use gut
strings in a recording of the Brahms sextets and these too are quite
nice being more mellow and less agressive and thick sounding than
some other recordings of these Brahms works. There are those that
maintain that the move to steel strings has not been all for the
better.
Terry
|
Patocellist
Registered User
Posts: 10
(8/27/01 10:01:55 pm)
Reply
 |
Re: who uses
synthetic strings?!
My experience with perlon strings is that you must to watch for two
things:
1) Your bridge setup. The bridge must be higher, so
synthetic strings tend to "sink" under bow pressure, choking the
sound is the strings are at normal "steel" high.
2) You will get
a sound not so louder, but if your cello has that quality in its
sound, it' s very difficult that strings for themselves can change
that. You have to deal with bridge and soundpost position, so you
get the sound you want.
Also, I noticed that synthetic strings
are very different from brand to brand, and model to model. You have
to experiment, but the strings ballet can be an expensive hobby...
|
ruthann
Registered
User
Posts: 560
(8/28/01 12:21:07
pm)
Reply
|
Re: who uses
synthetic strings?!
Sasha, the old strings are probably no good. Gut dries out and
becomes brittle. Even in a damp climate they only last about a year.
If the strings have been used, they'll have a kink in them where
they went over the bridge. A bare gut string will look hard and feel
brittle to the touch when it is old. The metal wrapped ones are
harder to judge. Don't worry about putting gut on a modern cello. If
it sounds right, then it IS right. I once put bare gut on a plywood
cello - it really helped the sound.
cello_suttonr@hotmail.com | |
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