Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Gut Core Violin Strings Review

Introduction
Gut strings are one of the oldest styles of strings that have been around for hundreds of years. Back in the 19th century, these were the only type of strings available on the market. These types of strings are used primarily to this day by more advanced violinists because they are the hardest strings to play. Gut strings come in different windings and can some are even totally unwound for players to produce a more classical style sound. It is not uncommon for some violinists to only want gut strings on the lower two strings because they want a more deep, dark tone on the low end compared to the high end. Then sometimes they go with synthetic strings on the high end.

Pros
Gut strings are well known for their richness and complex overtones which is why they are still popular in the market today. The great thing about gut strings is that you can dig into them very easily and can get certain sounds out of them that you cannot from a synthetic string or steel string.

Cons
One of the negative things about gut strings is that they take a long time to stretch and are highly affected by weather changes. They can go out of tune quite easily and they can be considered high maintenance. But for an advanced player these negativities can be worth what kind of sound the strings can produce if managed properly.

Recommendations
My recommendation is that these strings would work great for intermediate to advanced players that are looking for a rich classical tone on a nice instrument. Some great gut strings that have good ratings are Pirastro Obligato and also Pirastro Eudoxa. Both these strings run over a hundred dollars per set which make them some of the most expensive strings on the market. But if you are looking for that complex overtone and are willing to pay for it, these are probably the best strings to go with.

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