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Internet Cello Society Forums > Instruments and Equipment > String Choices
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PaulFM Registered User (3/6/01 10:54:27 am) Reply	String Choices I know that this subject has been beaten to death, but I need a little help on which string teachers recommend to their students. My son has an audition for the youth symphony at the end of the month and as some encouragement I said I buy some new strings. The strings he has now are who knows how old and a mix of D'Addario Pro Arte C & D, Thomastik Superflexible D and Precision A. I would appreciate any suggestions. TIA PaulM
Andrew Victor Registered User (3/6/01 11:10:07 am) Reply	Re: String Choices I'm sure you will get lots of suggestions on this. We all have our favorites. However, every instrument responds differently to the same strings - and therefore the "best" may be hard to find. I have a recent favorite. I've tried Thomastic Belcanto Gold strings on three cellos and felt that on all of them there was an improvement in responsiveness and evenness of tone compared to my previous stringing with Larsen A and D and Spirocore G and C (the Spirocores had been Tungsten, Silver, and Chrome - depending on which best balanced the A and D of the particular cello). The improvement could be heard immediately. Andy
Steve Drake Registered User (3/6/01 11:10:15 pm) Reply	Re: String Choices I'd advise going with some traditional favorites. Larsen A and D, and Spirocore G and C. For the Larsens, I'd pick the nonsoloist grade, and for the spirocores, the silver grade, all of these in the medium range. This combo will work well on almost any cello. With apologies to Andew, I'd advise staying away from the belcanto golds at this point. Everyone I know who's tried them think they're horrible, with the exception of Andrew. I've tried them, and found them to be very thin and shrill sounding. My MP3's My Cello Homepage
lblake Registered User (3/8/01 11:34:44 pm) Reply	Re: String Choices Interesting, Steve. I, like Andy, have had a wonderful experience with the Belcanto Golds. I've heard how phenomenal they sound on Andy's cellos, too. Not the slightest bit thin or shrill on any of Andy's cellos, or on my own. In fact, it's one of the only whole sets that works on my cello - although, I've decided that some A's are still better. And, also, interestingly, the Spirocore Silver G&C both are amazingly horrible and unresponsive on my cello. The C simply won't even play. However, I've heard the Spirocore Tungsten G&C (on one or two of Andy's cello's, and on another friend's), and they sounded terrific, and had wonderful response. So, it really completely depends on the cello. I wonder, though, if it also depends on the climate - I wonder if certain strings do better on more cellos in different climates. My climate is not always that different from Andy's. What's your climate like, Steve?
Steve Drake Registered User (3/9/01 4:19:26 pm) Reply	Re: String Choices I would suspect that it's not a difference in climates, but instead a difference in opinion about how a cello works and sounds. Differences like these are the norm, after all. I play in a professional symphony orchestra, and so of course I wind up with a bunch of people who have relatively similar sounds, which we achieve by a variety of ways. Being in close quarters like we are, we tend to know what each of us uses, and what we experiment with. Over the years, I've seen many kinds of strings make the rounds. A relative newbie string that has worked for everyone is the larsen A and D strings, although some of us still prefer Jargars, and I think everyone in our section is using one of these. As for C and G strings, spirocores are used by about half of the people, and the other half is a multitude of choices - heliocore, permanents, prims. FWIW I do experiment regularly with strings, and have found some fantastic strings that way. On my main instrument (Frirsz 1997) I have Jargar forte A and D strings, and Spirocore medium Silver G and C strings. This is also the set that Yo Yo Ma uses on his Montagnana, and our principal cellist, Anthony LaMarchina uses on his Gofriller. On my B cello, a chinese montagnana copy, I have a Larsen A, and pirastro flexocore D, G and C strings. On my Rocca cello, I have Larsen and D strings, and Pirastro Obligato G and C strings. Mixed sets are the norm in the professional world - I've never known anyone who gigs like I do who uses a complete set of one brand of strings. It'd be great if one of the string companies could start packaging sets of the normal combos that pros use, but I'll bet that never happens. Anyway, the start of this thread was about what kind of strings to replace a beginners cello with, and I thought I'd offer up some advice that has been successful in the past many times, and was readily available, and cheap. Sorry for the disgression - back to the point, I live in Nashville, Tennessee, which is a relatively humid, southern sort of area. However, it's been very dry over the winter, and my cellos still work the same. My MP3's My Cello Homepage
lblake Registered User (3/9/01 6:10:08 pm) Reply	Good point That's a good point - that what your aim is would be to blend with those with whom you play. To some extent, that's what I have done, too. The Belcanto Golds aren't the best set to blend for me with my orchestras, but they're not bad, either. The Obligatos were by far the best blending strings I've had, regardless of the sounds of the others' instruments. What's still interesting, though, is the completely different sound the Belcanto Golds make on Andy's cellos. His cellos are truly each very very different. The one affectionately called "The Beast" is an amazing, powerful instrument that I wouldn't dare take to orchestra, for fear of being thrown out, no matter WHAT strings I had on it. (I can't imagine anything toning down the beast enough to be anything but a solo instrument!) On the other hand, Andy's chinese cello sounds divine with the Belcanto Golds, and it seemed to me to have a tone that would easily blend anywhere. On my cello, the Belcanto Golds aren't much more powerful than any other string (except maybe the obligatos, which as I said before, blend so nicely)... but they are rich and round. The big distinguishing factor, though, that I have found, and have heard of from others who tried them, was the responsiveness of the Belcanto Golds. They are so quick, but still not tinny or particularly bright on my cello. About orchestra players - I see an awful lot with Larsens, too. Strangely, I see an awful lot with whole sets of Larsens, too - yet none of them ever seem to like the G, especially. My teacher is on an interesting crusade. He has had a set of Larsen fortes on his cello for some time, and recently changed to a new set... his big goal is to find strings with good, even fifths. I assume it's for this reason that he sticks with complete sets. His latest try is the Pirastro permanents - but I think one of them completely didn't work, so he put the Larsen back on that string. Still - having seen the way some sets work on my cello, and some sets don't even come close to working, I have to think that sticking with whole sets isn't the best plan for finding good fifths. Hmm. Incidentally, he's associate principal in our local symphony. He doesn't seem to be as much of a string junkie as you & I, though. String selection is definitely a very interesting pursuit.
Miquel Registered User (3/9/01 6:23:29 pm) Reply	Permanent strings It seems very common and convenient the combo two-top-solid (Larsen, Jargar,...) plus two-bottom-rope (spirocore, helicore, ...) . As far as I know Permanent/Pirastro set combines succesfully two top solid core strings with two bottom rope core. Any oppinions from you and your coleagues about that relative new option? Thanks!